People v. Jackson

14 Cal. App. 4th 1818, 18 Cal. Rptr. 2d 586, 93 Daily Journal DAR 5057, 93 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 2948, 1993 Cal. App. LEXIS 422
California Court of Appeal·Decided April 20, 1993·No. E009514·Published·Cited by 33 cases

Opinion

Opinion

HOLLENHORST, Acting P. J.

I

Defendants Conway, Robinson, and Jackson were each convicted by a jury of various attempted murder, kidnapping, burglary, attempted robbery, and assault offenses arising out of an attempted robbery of a check-cashing business, and a subsequent shoot-out with sheriff’s deputies.

On appeal, they each raise numerous trial and sentencing issues. We consider those issues in the sequence in which they arose at trial.

II, III *

*1822 IV Trial Issues

1. Shackling of Defendants During Trial.

All three defendants argue that the trial court abused its discretion and committed prejudicial error because they were shackled during the trial.

The facts are relatively undisputed. Defendants were not shackled during voir dire. However, at the beginning of trial they were in leg irons which were visible to the jury. Defendants objected to the sudden shackling.

a. The Hearing of October 10, 1990.

In response to the defendants’ objections, the trial court said: “Well, the security in this trial is going to be left up to the sheriff and my bailiff.” After further discussion, the court said: “Okay. Look, let me short-circuit you. I understand your concerns. The safety and concerns concerning custody of the defendants, the conduct of this trial that’s—the security is going to be left up to the sheriff. Now, I will interfere if it appears to the court that it is going to deny them a due process and a fair trial. . . . [j[] I’m not going to superimpose my judgment on the sheriff’s. . . .I’m not inclined at this point to tell the sheriff what to do or not to do.” (Italics added.) Subsequently, the court said, “[W]e all can observe that they have made a change in their security. I have indicated to the bailiff that it’s her job. And she's in charge of security in this courtroom. And they have made a decision along with the rest of the sheriff’s office to proceed in this fashion. I don’t intend to change that here this morning.” (Italics added.)

b. The Hearing of October 16, 1990.

At the beginning of proceedings on October 16, 1990, the prosecutor expressed his belief that the record was insufficient to support the shackling order. He was allowed to present testimony outside the presence of the jury to augment the record.

The first witness, a deputy sheriff, testified that he overheard defendant Robinson tell the other two defendants: “When I get out, I’m going to stick every cop I see.” He had also been told by other court personnel that the defendants were going to attempt an escape with outside help.

Another deputy testified that he was escorting defendant Robinson in the jail when Robinson “extended his hand and his arm, pointing his finger out making it look like a gun and then went ‘boom’ and stared me down . . . .” *1823 He also heard defendant Jackson state that, when he took the stand, “he was going to go off . . . .” 3 The deputy was also concerned with courtroom security due to “the fact that there is [sic] three defendants, the setting of a courtroom, the natures of the crimes involved.” On cross-examination, the deputy stated that his supervisors made the decisions on shackling, although he was unable to identify the individual that made those decisions in this case.

A detective testified that defendants were suspects in three murders and an armed robbery case. He testified that defendant Robinson was a gang member, and that he had been informed that defendants Robinson and Conway had outside resources to assist in an escape.

On cross-examination, the detective stated that he did not know who was in charge of security for the trial, or who was making the day-to-day security decisions. The cross-examination also brought out an additional justification for increased security when the detective testified that he also had information that defendant Robinson was considering an escape attempt with a man who was on trial for murder in an adjoining courtroom.

The trial court then decided, without hearing testimony by the defense, that enough evidence had been presented “to justify the request by the sheriff in that [sic] to implement security measures and that’s shackling the defendants.”

The trial court subsequently attempted to rehabilitate itself by stating, after the luncheon recess on October 16, 1990, that “I don’t want to leave you with the impression that the security and the decision to or not to shackle the defendants has been left entirely to the sheriff’s department. And perhaps I misspoke when I said that. . . . H] I’ve not aberrated [sic] the authority of the court to decide whether or not the shackles should be employed. . . . [SI]. . .1 want to make it understood that at no time has the sheriff employed shackles without first seeking permission of the court.”

c. Applicable General Principles.

Penal Code section 688 states: “No person charged with a public offense may be subjected, before conviction, to any more restraint than is necessary for his detention to answer the charge.” 4

In People v. Cox (1991) 53 Cal.3d 618, 651 [280 Cal.Rptr. 692, 809 P.2d 351], our Supreme Court held that the trial court erred in failing to make a *1824 proper record before ordering defendant restrained during the proceedings. The court reaffirmed the basic rule of People v. Duran (1976) 16 Cal.3d 282, 290-291 [127 Cal.Rptr. 618, 545 P.2d 1322, 90 A.L.R.3d 1], that a defendant “ ‘cannot be subjected to physical restraints of any kind in the courtroom while in the jury’s presence, unless there is a showing of a manifest need for such restraints.’” (People v. Cox, supra, 53 Cal.3d 618, 651.) The court defined “manifest need” as a need that “arises only upon a showing of unruliness, an announced intention to escape, or ‘[ejvidence of any nonconforming conduct or planned nonconforming conduct which disrupts or would disrupt the judicial process if unrestrained . . . .’ ” (Ibid.)

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People v. Jackson, 14 Cal. App. 4th 1818, 18 Cal. Rptr. 2d 586, 93 Daily Journal DAR 5057, 93 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 2948, 1993 Cal. App. LEXIS 422 (Cal. Ct. App. 1993).

14 Cal. App. 4th 1818 (People v. Jackson) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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