 |
 |
to fill out a simple form to connect to Personal Injury Lawyers in your area.
|
|
|
|
|
Lovell v. State11/12/1997
exercising his own discretion in the matter and was not simply rubber-stamping the recommendation or directive of the Division of Correction or the sheriff, and he gave a cautionary instruction not to draw any adverse conclusion from the shackling. He also noted that the shackling employed was not unduly visible: "It's not something that jumps out at one. It is visible if one looks for it, and it will be seen by the jury." What the majority proposes to do in this case is to reverse, not because the judge failed to follow any required procedure, but simply because it disagrees with the decision reached by the trial judge. That, in my view, is wrong for two reasons: first, it flies in the face of the consistent pronouncements of this Court that the matter is within the discretion of the trial judge, who is the person having the clearest picture of what is required; and second, it rests on a foundation that defies common sense in the context of a capital sentencing proceeding.
I quite agree that, absent some compelling and articulated justification, it is impermissible to shackle or otherwise visibly restrain a defendant in court during a trial as to guilt or innocence. That is so, I think, for at least one, and possibly two reasons. A restraint may, depending on its severity, actually impede the defendant from effectively participating in his or her defense, and only the most compelling circumstance can justify doing that. Even when the restraint is not that limiting, however, it has an inherently prejudicial effect. The defendant is presumed to be innocent. The jury's sole function in that setting is to determine whether the State has produced sufficient evidence to establish his or her guilt of the offense(s) charged beyond a reasonable doubt. Its focus must be only on that, and there is a real danger that viewing the defendant mechanically restrained by leg irons, chains, cuffs, or other such devices may distract the jurors from that singular focus and, even imperceptibly and unknowingly, cause one or more of them to vote to convict on the extraneous and irrelevant ground that the defendant is a dangerous person and ought to be removed from society.
A capital sentencing hearing is, as we have consistently held, quite a different matter, at least with respect to the second reason. The defendant does not stand before the jury with any presumption of innocence. He or she has already been found guilty of one or more crimes sufficiently grievous to warrant consideration of the death penalty, and the jury's only function in that setting is to determine whether the defendant should (1) be put to death, (2) receive life imprisonment without the possibility of parole, or (3) receive life imprisonment subject to the possibility of some future parole. The jury in this case thus well knew that, even if it imposed the most lenient sentence possible -- life imprisonment subject to the possibility of parole -- Lovell was not about to be released from closely monitored confinement for many, many years, if ever. The jury was made aware that Lovell, a major drug trafficker, had been convicted of the cold-blooded premeditated murder of a police officer, that after killing Trooper Plank, he shot at another police officer and then fled, that he thereafter broke into a dwelling and threatened its occupants and, had they not been able to subdue him, that he may have killed them as well, and that he had no remorse for having killed Trooper Plank. It is absurd to suppose that there could have been in any juror's mind any doubt that, whatever prospect there may be for his future rehabilitation -- for future dangerousness -- Ivan Fitzherbert Lovell, even if only 130 pounds, was then and there a very dangerous man, not one bit
Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 Maryland Personal Injury Attorneys
Personal Injury Lawyers
|
| |
to fill out a simple form to connect to Personal Injury Lawyers in your area.
|
|