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Council v. State

Any error in the trial court's denial of the defendant's request to have his leg shackles removed during trial was harmless.

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A jury found Tifiloe Maurice Council guilty of armed robbery, making terroristic threats, possessing a knife during the commission of a crime, fleeing or attempting to elude a police officer, and several traffic offenses in connection with the holdup of a convenience store in Columbia County. Council alleges that the trial court erred in denying his request to have his leg shackles removed during trial. Finding no prejudicial error, we affirm. While in the presence of the jury, a defendant “should be free of indicia of guilt such as wearing shackles or prison garb, or being surrounded by uniformed security personnel, or anything else that might infringe upon the presumption that he is innocent.”1 Although it is well settled that a defendant is entitled to a trial free of partiality which the presence of excessive security measures may create, it is also as well established that the use of extraordinary security measures to prevent dangerous or disruptive behavior which threatens the conduct of a fair and safe trial is within the discretion of the trial court.2 The burden is on the defendant to show that any extraordinary security measures have violated his constitutional rights.3

Here, the trial court denied Council’s request to remove his leg shackles after both the assistant district attorney and Council’s trial counsel walked through the jury box to determine if the shackles could be seen by the jurors. The assistant district attorney stated that he could not see the shackles from “anywhere in the jury box,” and Council’s trial counsel acknowledged that “it may very well be that no jurors can see the leg shackles.” The trial court stated that it would make an effort to shield the jurors from seeing the shackles, and it allowed Council to walk to and from the witness stand while no jurors were present in the courtroom in order to prevent them from being aware of the leg shackles.

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