Opinion ID: 2460345
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Synthesizing and Applying These Cases

Text: All of these cases, whether relating to a defendant, witness, or nonwitness being brought into the courtroom in jail clothing, are expressly or impliedly critical of the practice. We agree with this criticism and conclude, in the first step of our analysis, that given the consensus in the case law that jail clothing taints a trial, a trial court almost always abuses its discretion to control the courtroom when it allows a defendant, witness, or nonwitness to be brought before a jury in jail clothing without an articulated justification explaining why it is necessary for the person to wear jail clothing and does not consider giving an admonition or instruction to the jury that it should not consider the clothing or the person's incarceration. (In some cases, an admonition may not be advisable, but the pros and cons should be weighed.) As we have noted, discretion is abused when a trial court does not take into account the legal principles that control its decision. In this situation, the case law, including decisions of the United States Supreme Court, indicate the trial court should avoid the taint of jail clothing on a trial. Ignoring this case law is an abuse of discretion. See Gonzalez, 290 Kan. at 755-56, 234 P.3d 1. While the Court of Appeals acknowledged the general proposition that West and Jackson should not have been in jail clothing, it found a proper exercise of discretion because of the purposes given by the State for wanting them identified. Yet, this justification merely explains the reason for their presence; it does not suggest any justification for the two to be in jail clothing or explain why arrangements could not have been made for them to appear in street clothes.