Kirby v. Illinois, 406 U.S. 682 (1972), was a case decided by the Supreme Court of the United States that held that the Sixth Amendment right to counsel did not attach during a pre-indictment identification.

Kirby produced a Social Security card bearing the name Willie Shard, and police noticed he also carried traveler's checks.

A pre-indictment showup, however, could not be considered within the formal realm of the criminal proceeding, because it was a routine police procedure and not a situation where the suspect is faced with "the prosecutorial forces of organized society.

[8] Chief Justice Burger's concurrence asserted that a criminal prosecution only begins once charges are formally filed against a defendant, and because that had not yet happened by the time of the identification here, Kirby had no constitutional right to counsel.

[12] Justice White wrote a separate dissent, asserting that Wade and Gilbert controlled, and that the lower court should be reversed.