Mullins v. State
| Decision Date | 23 August 2000 |
| Docket Number | No. 2D99-4394.,2D99-4394. |
| Citation | 766 So.2d 1136 |
| Parties | Tylo MULLINS, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee. |
| Court | Florida District Court of Appeals |
Brian J. Donerly, Special Assistant Public Defender, Bartow (withdrew after briefing); James Marion Moorman, Public Defender, Bartow (substituted as counsel of record), for Appellant.
Robert A. Butterworth, Attorney General, Tallahassee, and John M. Klawikofsky, Assistant Attorney General, Tampa, for Appellee.
Tylo Mullins appeals his convictions for first-degree murder, attempted second-degree murder with a firearm, attempted robbery with a firearm, and aggravated assault. We find no reversible error and affirm. We write to point out that error occurred when the trial court forced a defense witness to testify in jail clothing, although in this case the error was harmless.
Although witnesses are not clothed with the presumption of innocence, we conclude that it was error here not to permit the defense witness to change clothes. Cf. Tompkins v. State, 386 So.2d 597, 599 (Fla. 5th DCA 1980)
(). See generally Michelle Migdal Gee, Annotation, Propriety and Prejudicial Effect of Witness Testifying While in Prison Attire, 16 A.L.R.4th 1356 (1982). Although the trial court erred in...
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...See Johnson v. Spalding, 510 F.Supp. 164 (E.D.Wash.1981); State v. Torres, 57 Conn.App. 614, 749 A.2d 1210 (2000); Mullins v. State, 766 So.2d 1136 (Fla.Ct.App. 2000); Thompson v. State, 514 S.W.2d 275 (Tex.Crim.App.1974). Regardless of this general prohibition, courts have not overturned c......
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