Opinion ID: 203028
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Prison Clothing

Text: González-Valero also claims that he was compelled to wear prison clothing for the first three days of the five-day trial, [40] in violation of his constitutional right not to be forced to wear identifiable prison garb in court, United States v. Pina, 844 F.2d 1, 8 (1st Cir.1988). See also Estelle v. Williams, 425 U.S. 501, 512, 96 S.Ct. 1691, 48 L.Ed.2d 126 (1976) (holding that an accused may not be compelled to stand trial before a jury while dressed in identifiable prison clothes); Moore v. Ponte, 186 F.3d 26, 35 (1st Cir.1999) (explaining that compelling a defendant to attend trial in prison or jail clothing . . . could impair the presumption of innocence) (citing Williams, 425 U.S. at 504-05, 96 S.Ct. 1691). Defendant asserts that he first filed a motion asking that he be allowed to wear civilian clothing on October 23, 2005-the day before the trial started. Receiving no response, he filed a second motion on October 25, after trial had started. That motion was granted the same day. A due process violation occurs not from an accused's appearance in prison clothes but from the compulsion that he so appear. Williams, 425 U.S. at 512-13, 96 S.Ct. 1691. Neither in his motions nor on appeal has González-Valero established or argued that he was forced to wear prison clothing; his second motion simply request[ed] that he be provided the opportunity to appear . . . in civilian dress. He equates the court's failure to respond to his initial motion with a compulsion that he wear prison attire, but there is no basis for a conclusion that he was prevented from wearing the clothing of his choice. Moreover, his second motion noted that the defendants wore khaki pants and shirts provided by the marshals, clothing that is neither stereotypical prison attire nor-so far as the record indicates-indicative of his prisoner status. Cf. Felts v. Estelle, 875 F.2d 785, 785-86 (9th Cir.1989) (finding due process violation where defendant compelled, during the first six days of trial, to wear a jumpsuit labeled in two places L.A. County Jail). Thus, defendant has failed to establish constitutional harm from the clothing he wore at trial.