Archive for the 'Criminal Courts' Category

Judges in Nashville Tennessee who are fed up with defendants coming to court wearing flip-flops, “wife-beater” t-shirts, saggy drawers, and gangster wear are clamping down.

As reported by the Gannett News Service, Nashville attorney David Collins said he’s seen fishnet-type shirts worn by defendants who are wearing no bra, pants or shorts that hung down so low on the body that it’s almost a case of indecent exposure.

But the Davidson County Court Criminal Court Judge Cheryl Blackburn is instituting a strict dress code, borrowed from the public schools: Pants worn at the waist, no sagging or low-riding pants. No do-rags, bandanas, haimets, or hoods are to be worn on the head. Visible undergarments and see-through clothing are banned, as are bare backs, chests or midriffs.

General Sessions Judge Angie Blackshear Dalton said: “This is court. It’s serious, and I think a part of coming to court is people letting us know that they’re taking it serious.”

General Sessions Judge Dan Eisenstein has ordered people in his courtroom to wear a blue paper hospital smock if they aren’t dressed appropriately. Criminal Court Judge Monte Watkins has thrown defendants in jail for repeatedly failing to heed his warnings about their attire.

While General Sessions Judge Casey Moreland also objects to some the things some people wear in his courtroom, he cuts others some slack. He’s got no problem with mechanics and construction workers coming to traffic court greasy and dusty. They’re working and coming to court on a break

I would love to see dress codes adopted in my jurisdiction. I’ve never understood why a defendant would come to court looking like a thug when he wants to convince the judge he’s a good guy.

Nearly 1 in 10 convictions in Connecticut, not involving motor vehicles, over the past five years include failure to appear. A woman appealing her conviction for failure to appear failed to wake up from nap and arrived in court forty five minutes late. She was convicted of felony failure to appear. It was the only court date she missed out of 45 appearances covering three years. She successfully defended herself, getting her drug charges dismissed. After a full day at work, the day before, she had delivered newspapers from 1am to 8am. Prosecutors argued that she should have known better than to work all night before a court appearance.

Connecticut’s appellate court overturned her conviction for failing to appear, but the State is appealing to the Connecticut Supreme Court. A senior state attorney said that the appellate court’s decision “set a bad example.”

At least 30 states treat failure to appear a standalone crime. Due to a lack of statistics, it is difficult to assess how many states use failure to appear as a prosecutorial safety net.

A 26 year old school teacher arrested in Los Angeles County for kidnapping and sexual assault was vindicated ten months after his arrest–but not before he had been subjected to months in jail and abuse by both jailers and other inmates.  The defendant had ATM receipts and telephone records that proved that he could not have been near the scene of the crime when it occurred.  However, the county decided to prosecute anyway.  The defendant lost his job and, although he was acquitted less than a year after his arrest, he was not able to secure new employment for three years. After the criminal court found that the defendant was “factually innocent”, he sued the arresting officer, the county, and the Sheriff’s Department.  The jury awarded $18 million .