Opinion ID: 168367
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: View of the defendant in shackles

Text: 20 In itself, a juror's brief view of a defendant in shackles does not qualify as a due process violation worthy of a new trial. United States v. Simpson, 950 F.2d 1519, 1522 (10th Cir.1991); United States v. Johnson, 911 F.2d 1394, 1397 (10th Cir. 1990). Such an incident must result in prejudice to violate due process, and the burden is on the defendant to show such prejudice. United States v. Ware, 897 F.2d 1538, 1542 (10th Cir.1990), abrogated on other grounds by United States v. Jones, 235 F.3d 1231 (10th Cir.2000). 21 Defendant concedes that he made no objection at trial, and that he makes no showing of actual prejudice here. Mr. Jones also had opportunity to request a curative jury instruction, and declined to do so. He argues that his burden to show prejudice is relieved by the court's error in not making further inquiries as to whether the incident biased the juror in question. In fact, any inquiries into juror bias would have been impermissible. Under Fed. R.Evid. 606(b), questioning of a juror who has been exposed to extraneous information is limited to the circumstances and nature of the improper contact, and questions bearing on the subjective effect of the contact on the juror's decision-making are prohibited. United States v. Hornung, 848 F.2d 1040, 1045 (10th Cir.1988). The district court acted properly, and we find no prejudicial error in the incident at issue.