Wheat v. State

Darrell Hickman, Justice.

The only issue in this case is whether the reference by a police officer to “mugshots” used in a photographic lineup improperly told the jury the appellant had a prior criminal record. The trial judge denied a motion for a mistrial, and we affirm that decision.

The officer did not testify that he used a “mugshot” of the appellant in the photographic lineup; he was asked;

Q. Can you tell us, basically, what a photographic lineup looks like?

A. Yes, sir. We pull mugshots from our files, uh, based on the general uh, close to the same facial features, same age—

The appellant…