Evans Lineup Motion

In Evans v. Superior Court (1974) 11 Cal.3d 617, the California Supreme Court concluded "due process requires in an appropriate case that an accused, upon timely request therefor, be afforded a pretrial lineup in which witnesses to the alleged criminal conduct can participate. The right to a lineup arises, however, only when eyewitness identification is shown to be a material issue and there exists a reasonable likelihood of a mistaken identification which a lineup would tend to resolve." (Evans, supra, 11 Cal.3d at p. 625.) The prerequisites for obtaining an Evans lineup are: (1) a timely request for the lineup; (2) a showing eyewitness identification was a material issue; (3) a showing a reasonable likelihood of a mistaken identification existed that a lineup would tend to resolve. (People v. Farnam (2002) 28 Cal.4th 107, 184.) A lineup under Evans is not provided by either the provisions of sections 1054 through 1054.10 or any other express statutory provisions, and therefore is only obtainable if expressly mandated by the federal Constitution. Although some passages in Evans suggest a defendant's right to seek a lineup is rooted in the due process clause (see, e.g., Evans, supra, 11 Cal.3d at p. 625), other passages in Evans suggest the right to seek a lineup was necessary to ensure fairness in pretrial discovery (id. at p. 622).