This is a capital case. A trial court commits reversible error if it allows a jury to be exposed to any vestige of the accused's incarceration-shackles, handcuffs or other manacles. The issue has generally arisen in the context of a determination of guilt or innocence.
Courts focus on the prejudicial impact restraints have on the defendant's presumption of innocence.
Obviously the same prejudicial effect results whether this shackling occurs before the prospective jury in the courtroom, or before the prospective jurors in the media prior to trial. Steps should be taken, then, to close that particular stable door before the horse escapes. The accused has the right to be tried without the obvious trappings of dangerous criminality. Not only is it possible that the sight of shackles and gags might have a significant effect on the jury's feelings about the defendant, but the use of the technique is itself something of an affront to the very dignity and decorum of judicial proceedings that the judge is seeking to uphold.