Opinion ID: 1986196
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: the attendance of defendant at the view

Text: Counsel for the prosecution requested a view of certain locations in the Town of Barrington that might enable the jurors to better understand the evidence when submitted. The defendant did not object to the view but expressed a desire to attend. The trial justice did not deny defendant's request to attend the view but cautioned that the marshals who were responsible for security outside the courtroom might require that he be shackled during the course of the view. Upon inquiry made to the State Marshals, an unequivocal answer was given that defendant would be under restraint for the duration of the view. The defendant chose not to attend the view if he were to be shackled. Defense counsel objected on the ground that if defendant were to attend the view, he would be shackled at the direction of the marshals, rather than at the direction of the court. His attorney attended the view on defendant's behalf. The defendant argues that the trial justice committed reversible error by (1) delegating the decision whether to physically restrain defendant if he attended the view to the state marshals, and (2) refusing to overrule the decision of the marshals to subject him to physical restraint. The defendant claims that as a result of the marshals' decision to physically restrain him he was thereby precluded for all practical purposes from attending the view. The state on the other hand argues that the sole discretion to provide security outside the courtroom was that of the Rhode Island State Marshals pursuant to the provisions of G.L. 1956 (1993 Reenactment) § 42-56-3(e)(1), (4), (7), and (9). The state also points out that pursuant to G.L. 1956 (1985 Reenactment) § 9-16-1 the court has discretion to order a view on the request of either party and in its further discretion may accompany the jury. The court is not required to attend the view. It is further well settled under Rhode Island law that the object of a view is not to obtain evidence but merely to enable the court and the jury better to understand the evidence when it is submitted. See, e.g., Kulpa v. General Ice Cream Corp., 71 R.I. 168, 174, 43 A.2d 60, 63 (1945); State v. Smith, 70 R.I. 500, 507, 41 A.2d 153, 157 (1945); State v. Germain, 47 R.I. 269, 270, 132 A. 734, 735 (1926). Even assuming without deciding that the court might have the power to overrule the marshals concerning security arrangements, it is no abuse of discretion for the trial justice to take into account the advice of marshals or deputy sheriffs in determining what is necessary for the security of the participants in a trial whether in a courtroom or outside the courtroom. State v. Byrnes, 433 A.2d 658, 663 (R.I. 1981). It was certainly no abuse of discretion to require a person accused of a most violent crime to be reasonably restrained by handcuffs and/or shackles in an open area in the presence of jurors and other participants. In any event, defendant's presence at a view is not a critical stage of the trial since his participation at the view would be virtually nonexistent save to be certain that the jurors were brought to the right place to which the evidence later presented would appropriately relate. Snyder v. Massachusetts, 291 U.S. 97, 108, 54 S.Ct. 330, 333, 78 L.Ed. 674, 679 (1934). In that case the Court held that the defendant's absence from a view was not a violation of his constitutional rights even though the trial judge described the view as evidence. Id. at 121, 54 S.Ct. at 338, 78 L.Ed. at 686. In the case at bar defendant's attorney attended the view and represented defendant's interests. His attorney expressly stated that he had no objection to anything that happened at the view. Consequently defendant suffered no prejudice as a result of his voluntarily absenting himself from the view, and there was no abuse of discretion on the part of the trial justice in deferring to the marshals' determination that restraint upon defendant at the view would be required.