Court Opinion

ID: 9585425
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 23:00:18.971499+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:44:04.885486
License: Public Domain

Krivosha, C. J.,
concurring in part, and in part dissenting.
I concur in all of the majority opinion except that portion which concludes that it was appropriate for the court to order Weikle shackled during a portion of the trial. In that regard I believe that the trial court was in error and shackling of Weikle was prejudicial, thereby entitling him to a new trial.
In reaching that conclusion I am not unmindful of the. fact that Weikle was being tried for escape. It is that very reason, however, which compels me to conclude that a defendant being tried for escape who is shackled in the presence of the jury does suffer prejudice. The shackling is simply proof positive to the jury that the individual is one who is likely to escape. As the majority observes in South v. State, 111 Neb. 383, 196 N. W. 684 (1923), this court “concluded that the accused in a criminal prosecution should be free from shackles during his trial unless they are necessary to prevent violence or escape.” (Emphasis omitted.) There is no evidence that Weikle was inclined to be violent or to attempt to escape from court. During most of the trial he was unshackled, the shackles being placed on him only during the time that other inmates testified. Apparently, there was some concern that if there were more than one inmate in the courtroom at a time a problem might arise. However, the witness inmates were shackled during their testimony and, obviously, were not in a position to create any diversion which would permit Weikle to flee. The majority notes that in this case there had been testimony earlier in the trial that the defendant was contemplating another escape attempt. The evidence, however, was that he was contemplating another escape attempt from the adjustment center in the penitentiary sometime in the future and not from the courtroom during the trial. If, indeed, the court was so concerned about the possibility of escape, one would assume that the court would have ordered him to remain shackled during the balance of the trial. Yet, the moment that the inmate witnesses concluded their testimony, the shackles were removed.
I simply do not believe that the facts in this case were *87sufficient to justify the exception to the general rule and, under the circumstances here, believe they worked a prejudice to the defendant.
While we must do everything we can to combat crime, we must not do it at the sacrifice of the Constitution nor the constitutional rights of persons accused of crimes. See State v. Havlat, 222 Neb. 554, 385 N.W.2d 436 (1986) (Krivosha, C.J., dissenting).