Testimony About a Man Leaving a Murder Victim's Apartment

In People v. Reyes (1974) 12 Cal.3d 486, the witness who testified she saw a man leaving a murder victim's apartment admitted at trial she could not identify him as the defendant; that the defendant "looked more like" the man she saw because of his longer hair. ( Id. at p. 498.) The court noted the weather was rainy and foggy and the light poor on the December morning, and the witness viewed the incident from across the street approximately 125 feet away. (Ibid.) Other witnesses identified another person as the man who fled the apartment, and still another testified he was certain the defendant was not the fleeing man. (Ibid.)