A man charged with armed robbery was not denied a fair trial after being compelled to wear sweatpants issued by the corrections department for half a day of jury selection at his trial, New York’s highest court has ruled in a decision that delineates the limits of a defendant’s ability to contest his appearance at trial in prison attire.
Though defendants, consistent with the presumption of innocence in criminal trials, are entitled to wear their own clothing in court, “these concerns are not implicated here… where there is no evidence that defendant’s orange correctional pants were visible to the jury and the clothing that was visible to the jury was clearly not identifiable as correctional garb” a five-judge panel of the Court of Appeals wrote in a decision Feb. 9.
Before jury selection began, Rafael Then, who was seated in a wheelchair, requested an adjournment of his trial from that day, a Thursday, to the following Monday, complaining that he did not have his own clothing because he had been unable to contact his family. The trial judge denied the request for a four-day adjournment but noted Then’s concerns and recessed the proceedings until after lunch, saying he would arrange for clothes to be delivered.
Following lunch and outside the presence of prospective jurors, the judge noted that Then wore orange correctional pants and a black knitted top, and that he was seated with his legs beneath a long, wide table farthest away in the courtroom from the jury, with his attorney seated between Then and jurors.
Jurors could not see Then’s legs unless they strained, the judge said, noting that the court would call the corrections department to ensure the defendant would be wearing civilian clothes the following day. When the prosecutor asked jurors whether they “notice[d] something about the defendant,” a prospective juror noted that Then was in a wheelchair. The prosecutor replied that the wheelchair had nothing to do with the case and instructed the jury to disregard it.
“Under the circumstances described here by the trial judge on the record, there is no merit to the defendant’s contention that he was denied a fair trial because he was compelled to appear before the jury in correctional garb,” the Court of Appeals wrote.
The Supreme Court has long held that requiring a defendant to stand trial in identifiable prison garb constitutes a denial of due process of law in violation of the 14th Amendment.
“Identifiable prison garb robs an accused of the respect and dignity accorded other participants in a trial and constitutionally due the accused as an element of the presumption of innocence, and surely tends to brand him in the eyes of the jurors with an unmistakable mark of guilt,” Justice William Brennan wrote in dissent from a ruling by the court in 1976 that affirmed the murder conviction of a Texas man who failed to object to being tried in jail clothes.