Court Opinion

ID: 9483768
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 09:31:00.045654+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:49:49.702699
License: Public Domain

BOOCHEVER, Circuit Judge,
concurring:
I concur in the opinion, but would not address the issue of whether the shackling in this case violated the Constitution. The state trial judge was not arbitrary, capricious, or discriminatory in his ruling. Castillo was charged with first-degree murder and was housed in a disciplinary “separation area” for having assaulted other inmates. Under these circumstances, I believe there is a substantial question whether the type of shackling that was ordered, which was not visible to the jury and would not likely cause pain or a major interference to communication with counsel, reached the level of a constitutional violation of due process. None of the cases from this circuit directly addresses this issue, nor has it been specifically decided by the Supreme Court. Because I believe we should not rule on such an important constitutional issue unless necessary to resolve the appeal, I would rest the decision on the harmless error analysis. See Kolender v. Lawson, 461 U.S. 352, 361 n. 10, 103 S.Ct. 1855, 1860 n. 10, 75 L.Ed.2d 903 (1983) *150(constitutional questions should not be decided in advance of the necessity of doing so).