Opinion ID: 859237
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Jail garb

Text: ¶52 Hardy argues that the trial court abused its discretion in denying his motion for a mistrial after three 24 jurors inadvertently saw him during the guilt phase exiting an elevator accompanied by law enforcement officers and wearing jail garb. Mistrial “is the most dramatic remedy for trial error and should be granted only when it appears that justice will be thwarted unless the jury is discharged and a new trial granted.” State v. Dann (Dann I), 205 Ariz. 557, 570 ¶ 43, 74 P.3d 231, 244 (2003). We review the denial of a motion for mistrial for abuse of discretion. State v. Speer, 221 Ariz. 449, 462 ¶ 72, 212 P.3d 787, 800 (2009). ¶53 Following deliberations in the guilt phase, three jurors saw Hardy in a wheelchair being rolled out of a freight elevator by officers. Hardy contends that he was wearing handcuffs and jail garb at the time. Two of those jurors noticed that he was wearing jail garb, but none noticed whether he was in handcuffs because, as soon as they recognized Hardy, the jurors closed a hallway door and waited for him to pass. One of these jurors mentioned to the rest of the jury panel that they had seen Hardy but did not mention what he was wearing. ¶54 Generally, a defendant in a criminal case has a right to appear in civilian clothing and be free from visible restraints in the courtroom during trial. Deck v. Missouri, 544 U.S. 622, 629 (2005) (visible restraints); Estelle v. Williams, 425 U.S. 501, 504-06 (1976) (jail garb); State v. Gomez, 211 Ariz. 494, 502–03 ¶¶ 40–41, 123 P.3d 1131, 1139–40 (2005) 25 (visible restraints); State v. Garcia-Contreras, 191 Ariz. 144, 146-47 ¶ 8, 953 P.2d 536, 538-39 (1998) (jail garb). Violation of these rights requires reversal unless the state can show harmless error. Deck, 544 U.S. at 635; State v. Reid, 114 Ariz. 16, 23, 559 P.2d 136, 143 (1976). A juror’s inadvertent exposure to the defendant in handcuffs outside the courtroom, however, “is not inherently prejudicial, and a defendant is not entitled to a new trial absent a showing of actual prejudice.” Speer, 221 Ariz. at 462-63 ¶¶ 74-75, 212 P.3d at 800-01 (internal quotation marks omitted) (one juror); State v. Apelt, 176 Ariz. 349, 361, 861 P.2d 634, 646 (1993) (several jurors). This reasoning also applies to a juror’s inadvertent exposure to the defendant in jail garb. ¶55 In this case, there was no showing of actual prejudice. The jurors who saw Hardy assured the trial court that they could be fair and impartial through the aggravation and penalty phases of the trial. After this assurance, Hardy withdrew a motion to replace those three jurors with alternates and indicated that “if the court fe[lt] there [was] prejudice” it should select an entirely new jury. The trial court reasonably found no prejudice relating to the three jurors who saw Hardy, and there could be no prejudice regarding the other jurors who neither saw nor knew of his jail attire. The trial court did not abuse its discretion in denying the motion for 26 mistrial.