Opinion ID: 1494252
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 25

Heading: the appellant in shackles:

Text: During the second day of trial on March 10, 1998, appellant was transported to the courtroom for the afternoon session wearing leg and arm shackles. In order to reach the courtroom from the hallway, the appellant had to walk by the jury room where the door inadvertently remained open a few inches. Appellant alleged that he was observed by some of the jurors. Appellant moved for a mistrial, although he did not request that the jurors be polled to determine if any of them had actually seen appellant walking down the hallway in shackles. The trial judge denied the motion for mistrial. We have stated that, a defendant is entitled to an individualized evaluation of both the need for shackling and the potential prejudice therefrom. Whittlesey v. State, 340 Md. 30, 85, 665 A.2d 223, 250 (1995), cert. denied, 516 U.S. 1148, 116 S.Ct. 1021, 134 L.Ed.2d 100 (1996)(citing Hunt v. State, 321 Md. 387, 583 A.2d 218 (1990)). We review the trial judge's denial of the motion for mistrial for an abuse of discretion. The general rule that a mistrial should be granted only for manifest necessity is well settled. See State v. Crutchfield, 318 Md. 200, 207-08, 567 A.2d 449, 452-53 (1989), cert. denied, 495 U.S. 905, 110 S.Ct. 1926, 109 L.Ed.2d 289 (1990)(quoting United States v. Perez, 22 U.S. (9 Wheat.) 579, 580, 6 L.Ed. 165 (1824)). Because the trial judge is ordinarily in a uniquely superior position to gauge the potential for prejudice in a particular case, the trial judge is afforded broad discretion in determining the appropriateness of granting the motion for mistrial. Watters v. State, 328 Md. 38, 50, 612 A.2d 1288, 1294 (1992), cert. denied, 507 U.S. 1024, 113 S.Ct. 1832, 123 L.Ed.2d 460 (1993). For the reasons set forth below, no manifest necessity existed in this case. The decision as to the method and extent of courtroom security is left to the sound discretion of the trial judge. See Whittlesey, 340 Md. at 84, 665 A.2d at 249. This discretion extends to the hallways and corridors leading to and from the courtroom, as the structure of the courthouse and the security available in the building may bear on the trial judge's decision to utilize shackles on the accused. On review we must ask whether the measures utilized were reasonable and whether, given the need, such security posed an unacceptable risk of prejudice to the defendant. Bruce v. State, 318 Md. 706, 721, 569 A.2d 1254, 1262 (1990), aff'd, 328 Md. 594, 616 A.2d 392 (1992), cert. denied, 508 U.S. 963, 113 S.Ct. 2936, 124 L.Ed.2d 686 (1993)(citing Holbrook v. Flynn, 475 U.S. 560, 572, 106 S.Ct. 1340, 1347, 89 L.Ed.2d 525, 536-37 (1986)). The Queen Anne's County Courthouse, constructed more than two hundred years ago, presents particular difficulties in obscuring shackled prisoners from public view. The prisoner transport vehicles must park on the public street such that all prisoners must be walked across the Courthouse square and enter the building through the front (and only) door to the Courthouse. The trial judge explained the inherent difficulties of the Queen Anne's County Courthouse in his denial of appellant's motion for mistrial: I simply do not feel that one fleeting glimpse, in the meantime, for the past two days, and at the hearing, when each of the jurors was here when we had the public selection of the jurors and when each juror was interviewed privately, the defendant has been there really indistinguishable from the rest of us... and he has been here and he's been walking back and forth in this courtroom unshackled to the numerous-and not inordinate, I don't mean that when I say numerous, but there have been a number of conferences here at the bench and he is really pretty free to go. I have had occasion to look and I wasI have been very impressed over the years and I was again yesterday, at how really good the detention people are in making themselves obscure...we don't even know how many, if any of the jurors saw the defendant. But if they did, the only thing that he had on was a pair of leg irons, which are designed to keep someone from fleeing, when they're in transit.