Opinion ID: 776501
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Violation of Ghent's Due Process Rights

Text: 28 Ghent argues that his constitutional right to due process was violated because he was physically restrained by the State in the presence of the jury. Ghent is correct that a defendant has the right to be free of shackles and handcuffs in the presence of the jury, unless shackling is justified by an essential state interest. See Rhoden v. Rowland, 172 F.3d 633, 636 (9th Cir.1999); see also Holbrook v. Flynn, 475 U.S. 560, 568-69, 106 S.Ct. 1340, 89 L.Ed.2d 525 (1986); Illinois v. Allen, 397 U.S. 337, 344, 90 S.Ct. 1057, 25 L.Ed.2d 353 (1970). In order for a defendant to prevail on a claim of this nature, a court must find that the defendant was indeed physically restrained in the presence of the jury, that the shackling was seen by the jury, and that the physical restraint was not justified by state interests. Then, in order for the unjustified shackling to rise to the level of a constitutional error, the defendant must make a showing that he suffered prejudice as a result. 9 United States v. Olano, 62 F.3d 1180, 1190 (9th Cir.1995); United States v. Halliburton, 870 F.2d 557, 561-62 (9th Cir.1989). 29 In Ghent's case, the district court conducted an evidentiary hearing on this claim and found that there was insufficient evidence to support the contention that Ghent was restrained in open court during either of the two trials. The district court did find, however, that Ghent was transported to and from the courtroom in shackles and that on some of these occasions jurors observed him under restraint. Upon review of the record, we cannot conclude that any of the district court's factual findings were clearly erroneous. See Olano, 62 F.3d at 1190. There was conflicting testimony about whether jurors saw Ghent in handcuffs or restraints in the open courtroom while the court was in session, and neither the prosecutor nor the defense counsel remembered Ghent being handcuffed or shackled at the defense table during the trial. There was, however, testimony as to brief glimpses by jurors of Ghent in restraints as he walked in the hallway and stood at the doorway of the courtroom to have his restraints removed. 30 A preponderance of the evidence supports the finding that jurors did see Ghent in the hallway at the entrance to the courtroom in handcuffs and other restraints on some occasions. 10 31 Jurors so testified and Ghent's defense counsel stated that he saw jurors from the first trial observe Ghent in the hallway being transported in restraints and specifically asked the court to correct this problem. The head of court security at the time testified that murder defendants were regularly transported in shackles to the courtroom and that the prisoner normally would be unshackled right before he entered the courtroom. 32 Despite our agreement with the district court's finding that jurors sometimes saw Ghent in handcuffs or restraints, we also agree with the district court that Ghent has not made a showing of actual prejudice. The district court found that [o]bservations of Petitioner in the hallway or at the door of the courtroom [by jurors] are shown by the evidence to be brief and infrequent, and there is no evidence of prejudice. The evidence suggests that a few jurors at most glimpsed Ghent in shackles in the hallway and as he was entering the courtroom. The jury's brief or inadvertent glimpse of a shackled defendant is not inherently or presumptively prejudicial, nor has Ghent made a sufficient showing of actual prejudice. See Rhoden, 172 F.3d at 636; Olano, 62 F.3d at 1190; Halliburton, 870 F.2d at 561-62; Wilson v. McCarthy, 770 F.2d 1482, 1486 (9th Cir.1985). 11 Therefore, we affirm the district court's finding of no constitutional error.