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onenote

(45,161 posts)
11. Bringing him into court in a jumpsuit and handcuffs would result in a conviction being overturned on appeal
Thu May 2, 2024, 03:03 PM
May 2024

Forcing a defendant to wear prison garb and be shackled is presumptively prejudicial.
In Deck v Missouri, the Supreme Court held that the Constitution prohibits the use of physical restraints visible to the jury during a criminal trial, absent a court determination that they are “justified by an essential state interest . . . specific to the defendant on trial.” The New York Court of Appeals has followed the Deck precedent, holding that, as a matter of both federal and state constitutional law, "a defendant has the right to be free of visible shackles, unless there has been a case-specific, on-the-record finding of necessity."

Similarly, in Estelle v Williams, the Supreme Court found that forcing a defendant to wear prison attire in front of a jury infringed on the defendant's Fourteenth Amendment due process rights.

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