Jackson v. Washington

• Decision Date: 16 September 2005
• Docket Number: Record No. 042130.
• Citation: 619 S.E.2d 92
• Parties: Paradice Carnell JACKSON, II v. Gerald K. WASHINGTON, Warden, Buckingham Correctional Center.
• Court: Virginia Supreme Court

Page 92

619 S.E.2d 92

Paradice Carnell JACKSON, II v. Gerald K. WASHINGTON, Warden, Buckingham Correctional Center.

Record No. 042130.

Supreme Court of Virginia.

September 16, 2005.

Gail Starling Marshall for appellant.

Robert H. Anderson, III, Senior Asst. Atty. General (Judith Williams Jagdmann, Atty. General, on brief), for appellee.

Present: All the Justices.

KOONTZ, Jr., Justice.

This appeal arises from a judgment of the Circuit Court of Stafford County dismissing a petition for a writ of habeas corpus filed by Paradice Carnell Jackson, II. The sole issue we consider is whether the circuit court erred in denying Jackson's claim in the petition that his trial counsel rendered ineffective assistance of counsel by failing to object to Jackson being tried before a jury while wearing a jail-issued "jumpsuit."

BACKGROUND

On April 3, 2000, Jackson was indicted by the grand jury of Stafford County on two counts of statutory burglary, Code § 18.2-91, and two counts of grand larceny, Code § 18.2-95, arising from the breaking and entering on two occasions in March 2000 of a home in Stafford County owned by Darlene A. Kenyon and previously occupied by her friend, Cheryl England. Personal property belonging to each woman had been taken during the burglaries. The larceny indictments were subsequently amended to charge Jackson with the felony offenses of petit larceny, third or subsequent offense under Code § 18.2-96.

While he was being held in jail awaiting trial, jail personnel misplaced Jackson's civilian clothes. Jackson unsuccessfully attempted to utilize the administrative procedures of the jail to have his clothes returned to him or to be compensated for their loss prior to his trial. Jackson was advised by the jail superintendent that the staff was attempting to locate his clothes and that upon his "release or transfer" he would be compensated for their loss, if still missing at that time.

Jackson also discussed with his court-appointed counsel his desire to obtain civilian clothes to wear during his trial and, in that regard, advised counsel to contact his mother. Counsel "made several attempts to contact [Jackson's] mother, but never received any response from her." Jackson was ultimately tried on the indictments before a jury in the Circuit Court of Stafford County (the trial court) beginning on April 12, 2001. The record of Jackson's jury trial does not contain a description of the jail-issued jumpsuit that Jackson wore throughout his trial. It is not disputed, however, that the jumpsuit was readily identifiable as jail clothing. Additionally, it is undisputed that Jackson's counsel did not object to Jackson being required to appear before the jury in the jumpsuit, request a cautionary instruction from the trial court, or seek a continuance of the trial so that Jackson could obtain civilian clothes to wear at trial.

During the trial, the Commonwealth presented a strong evidentiary case, although largely circumstantial, in support of Jackson's guilt of the charges asserted in the indictments. For purposes of our resolution of this appeal, a detailed summary of that evidence is unnecessary. Jackson's credibility as a witness in his own defense, however, ultimately became a critical issue to be considered by the jury.

The Commonwealth's evidence established that Kenyon, the owner of the home in question, lived in Alexandria and visited her home in Stafford County "approximately every two weeks." Until early in March 2000, she had permitted England to occupy the home. Kenyon's home was burglarized on or about March 9 and again on March 26. During this time, England was in the final stage of removing her personal property from the home to another residence where she then actually resided. Various items of personal property, including televisions, stereos, an answering machine, and a vacuum cleaner, belonging to Kenyon or England were taken during the two burglaries.

On the night of the March 26 burglary, neighbors observed "lights blink on" in Kenyon's home and then a vehicle leaving the driveway of the home without its lights activated. Suspecting a burglary had taken place, the neighbors promptly contacted the local sheriff's department and provided a description of the vehicle and its license tag number. A deputy sheriff en route to investigate the possible burglary encountered the vehicle described by the neighbors. The deputy stopped the vehicle and questioned the three male occupants, including Jackson, who occupied the back seat. Property in the vehicle, subsequently identified as having been taken from Kenyon's home, was impounded. The three occupants of the vehicle were not arrested at that time.

In the course of investigating the burglaries, a sheriff's detective interviewed Jackson and subsequently found more property that had been taken from the home in his possession. It was further determined that earlier Jackson had pawned a television set that had been taken from the home.

Jackson testified at length at his trial, asserting his innocence of the charges against him. Essentially, he maintained that until the vehicle in which he was a passenger was stopped by the deputy sheriff on March 26, he was unaware that the burglaries had occurred and that the personal property in question had been stolen. He further maintained that he had only been to Kenyon's home on March 26 and at that time he did not enter the home although he thought that because it was unoccupied the property had been "abandoned." Additionally, Jackson maintained that he had mistakenly thought that the property he had pawned belonged to a friend who had asked him to sell it. In sum, Jackson asked the jury to believe that he was an innocent bystander to the crimes committed by his two companions.¹

The jury returned verdicts convicting Jackson of all the charges against him and recommended prison sentences of seven years for each of the burglary convictions and three years for each larceny conviction. Prior to his sentencing hearing, Jackson filed a pro se motion to set aside the jury's verdicts in which he argued, inter alia, that his counsel had been ineffective in "fail[ing] to object to [Jackson's] being forced to wear a jail issue jump suit before the jury." The trial court denied this motion and imposed sentence in accord with the jury's verdicts.

Jackson challenged his convictions on direct appeal to the Court of Appeals, asserting, inter alia, that in the trial court he had erroneously been compelled to appear before the jury in the jail-issued jumpsuit. In an unpublished opinion, the Court of Appeals affirmed Jackson's convictions, holding that the issue whether Jackson had been improperly required to appear before the jury in jail clothes was barred by his counsel's failure to make an objection in the trial court, Rule 5A:18. Jackson v. Commonwealth, Record No.1675-01-4, slip op. at 2, 2002 WL 31414750 (October 29, 2002). Jackson's petition for appeal to this Court was refused. Jackson v. Commonwealth, Record No. 022798 (May 28, 2003).

On October 14, 2003, Jackson filed a pro se petition for a writ of habeas corpus in the Circuit Court of Stafford County (the circuit court) against Gerald K. Washington, Warden of the Buckingham Correctional Center. In his petition Jackson asserted that his trial counsel had been ineffective in failing to object to his "being tried in front of a jury in a prison `jumpsuit' after the jail lost my civilian clothes."

The Commonwealth, on behalf of the warden, filed a motion to dismiss Jackson's petition on the ground that Jackson's trial counsel was not "constitutionally obligated to object" to the fact that Jackson was required to wear jail clothes during his jury trial. The Commonwealth further contended that even if counsel's performance had been deficient, Jackson had failed to demonstrate any prejudice arising from counsel's deficient performance because there was no "reasonable probability of a different result at trial" had Jackson appeared in civilian clothes. In an affidavit from Jackson's trial counsel obtained by the Commonwealth in support of its motion to dismiss, counsel conceded that Jackson had expressed a desire not to appear before the jury in jail clothes, but maintained that at the time of trial Jackson "was most anxious to have these matters resolved quickly." Although counsel opined that Jackson's "appearance in a jail jumpsuit was not prejudicial nor did it ... impact the jury's impression of [him]," she did not indicate that her failure to object to the trial proceeding under those circumstances was based upon a trial strategy.

The circuit court reviewed Jackson's petition on the record without conducting a hearing. As relevant to this appeal, in an order dated June 18, 2004, the circuit court dismissed Jackson's petition, finding that "trial counsel reasonably chose not to object to Jackson being tried in a [jail] jumpsuit" as a "tactical decision" which did not "prejudice Jackson within the meaning of Strickland [v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668, 104 S.Ct. 2052, 80 L.Ed.2d 674 (1984)]." We awarded Jackson this appeal.

DISCUSSION

Beyond question, an accused, consistent with the constitutional right to a fair trial, may not be compelled to stand trial before a jury wearing clearly identifiable jail or prison clothes. Estelle v. Williams, 425 U.S. 501, 504-05, 96 S.Ct. 1691, 48 L.Ed.2d 126 (1976). This is so because being compelled to appear before a jury in clearly identifiable jail or prison clothes may undermine the fairness of the fact-finding process and, thus, violate the accused's fundamental right to a presumption of innocence while furthering no essential state interest. Id. Additionally, because "compelling the accused to stand trial in jail garb operates usually against only those who cannot post bail prior to trial [it is] repugnant to the concept of equal justice embodied in the Fourteenth Amendment." Id. at 505-06, 96 S.Ct. 1691.

Whether...