Section 10.46 Harmless Error

• Library: Criminal Practice 2012 Supp

B. (§10.46) Harmless Error

When the defendant’s constitutional right to due process of law has been violated by an identification procedure that was so impermissibly suggestive as to give rise to a very substantial likelihood of irreparable misidentification, the conviction must be reversed unless the government can demonstrate that the error was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt. See Chapman v. Cal., 386 U.S. 18 (1967).

The harmless error doctrine is applicable when there is a constitutionally infirm...