State v. Finley

• Decision Date: 16 November 2006
• Docket Number: No. 32961.,32961.
• Citation: 639 S.E.2d 839
• Parties: STATE of West Virginia, Plaintiff Below, Appellee v. Jeffrey L. FINLEY, Defendant Below, Appellant.
• Court: West Virginia Supreme Court

639 S.E.2d 839

STATE of West Virginia, Plaintiff Below, Appellee v. Jeffrey L. FINLEY, Defendant Below, Appellant.

No. 32961.

Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia.

Submitted September 6, 2006.

Decided November 16, 2006.

Concurring and Dissenting Opinion of Chief Justice Davis December 1, 2006.

Dissenting Opinion of Justice Maynard December 4, 2006.

Concurring Opinion of Justice Benjamin January 2, 2007.

Syllabus by the Court

1. "Where the issue on an appeal from the circuit court is clearly a question of law ... we apply a de novo standard of review." Syl. Pt. 1, in part, Chrystal R.M. v. Charlie A.L., 194 W.Va. 138, 459 S.E.2d 415 (1995).

2. "A criminal defendant has the right under the Due Process Clause of our State and Federal Constitutions not to be forced to trial in identifiable prison attire." Syl. Pt. 2, in part, State ex rel. McMannis v. Mohn, 163 W.Va. 129, 254 S.E.2d 805 (1979).

3. Due process afforded by the West Virginia and United States Constitutions demands that a criminal defendant may not routinely be compelled to appear in jail or prison clothing at the penalty phase of a bifurcated murder trial.

4. The decision regarding whether a criminal defendant be required to wear identifiable prison or jail clothing at the penalty phase of a bifurcated murder trial is within the sound discretion of the trial court, subject to an evidentiary hearing that establishes an essential state interest which justifies imposing the requirement.

Russell S. Cook, Jack L. Hickok, West Virginia Public Defender Services, Charleston, for the Appellant.

Darrell V. McGraw, Jr., Attorney General, Colleen A. Ford, Assistant Attorney General, Charleston, for the Appellee.

ALBRIGHT, Justice:

This case involves an appeal of Jeffrey Lee Finley (hereinafter referred to as "Appellant") of his sentence of life without mercy, imposed in the Circuit Court of Cabell County by order entered on October 28, 2004, as recommended by the jury which found Appellant guilty of the offense of first-degree murder.¹ While Appellant's petition for appeal assigned six errors committed by the trial court, this Court accepted the petition on the sole issue of whether it violates due process under the West Virginia and United States Constitutions to require a criminal defendant to wear jail or prison clothing during the penalty phase² of a bifurcated jury trial for murder. For the reasons set forth below, we reverse the judgment and remand the case only for rehearing of the penalty phase of the trial.

I. Factual and Procedural Background

An indictment handed down by a Cabell County grand jury in May 2003 charged Appellant with one count of murder and two counts of second-degree sexual assault in the March 22, 1999, murder of Mabel Hetzer. The victim, the ninety-two year old neighbor of Appellant, was found dead in her home with her body exhibiting signs of sexual assault. The guilt phase of the jury trial on the charges began on September 20, 2004, and concluded on September 29, 2004, with the jury returning the verdict of guilty on all three charges in the indictment.

On October 12, 2004, the jury returned for the penalty phase of the trial for the sole purpose of deciding whether to recommend mercy for the life sentence resulting from their finding of guilt on the first-degree murder charge. Appellant had worn civilian clothes during the guilt phase of the bifurcated trial and moved the trial court to be permitted to do the same during the penalty phase. The motion to wear civilian clothes was denied by the trial court with the explanation that it was the practice "in Cabell County ... that once he's been convicted, this jury already knows that he is a convict, they're the ones that convicted him, that he comes over not in a suit, but in his regular jail clothes." Consequently, Appellant appeared before the jury during the penalty phase in the standard bright orange jail uniform. No evidence was presented by the defense or prosecution during this phase of the trial, so the jury was only presented with closing arguments of the parties and instructions before the panel began its deliberation. The jury's subsequent determination not to recommend mercy in sentencing for the murder conviction was followed by the trial court's immediate sentencing of Appellant to life imprisonment without possibility of parole.³

On December 17, 2005, the trial court denied Appellant's post-trial motions. Because the trial court granted a two-month extension to appeal, the criminal appeal alleging commission of various errors by the trial court was not filed in this Court until June 28, 2005. On January 9, 2006, this Court accepted the appeal for consideration of the solitary issue of whether it comports with constitutional guarantees of due process for a criminal defendant to be required to wear jail or prison clothing during the penalty phase of a bifurcated murder trial.

II. Standard of Review

The issue in this case calls on us to examine a question of constitutional dimension and as such, "[w]here the issue on an appeal from the circuit court is clearly a question of law ... we apply a de novo standard of review." Syl. Pt. 1, in part, Chrystal R.M. v. Charlie A.L., 194 W.Va. 138, 459 S.E.2d 415 (1995).

III. Discussion

Appellant argues that the lower court erred in denying his request to wear civilian clothing during the penalty phase of the trial because the jury's duties were not entirely completed until after the panel decided the question of whether to grant mercy.⁴ Appellant maintains that as long as a criminal defendant remains subject to a discretionary decision from the jury, the defendant should not be compelled by the trial judge to wear prison garb as it violates the due process guarantees of both federal and state constitutions by denying the accused a fair trial. In support of this due process argument, Appellant cites the United States Supreme Court case of Estelle v. Williams, 425 U.S. 501, 96 S.Ct. 1691, 48 L.Ed.2d 126 (1976), and the West Virginia case of State ex rel. McMannis v. Mohn, 163 W.Va. 129, 254 S.E.2d 805 (1979), in which this Court adopted the principles announced in Estelle. Appellant also directs us to the recent decision of Deck v. Missouri, 544 U.S. 622, 125 S.Ct. 2007, 161 L.Ed.2d 953 (2005), in which the United States Supreme Court, relying on Estelle and its progeny, found that a defendant's appearance before a jury in visible shackles during the penalty phase of a homicide trial violates due process under the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution.

Responding to this argument, the State contends that once the criminal defendant in a bifurcated murder trial is found guilty by the jury, safeguards of the presumption of the defendant's innocence are no longer needed. Thus, the State concludes that what clothing a criminal defendant wears during the penalty phase of such bifurcated trial does not raise an issue of constitutional magnitude but rather is left to the sound discretion of the trial court.

It was clearly established in Estelle v. Williams that it is unconstitutional to compel a criminal defendant to wear prison clothing during a criminal trial when the guilt or innocence of the accused is undecided. At the outset of its discussion in Estelle, the Supreme Court observed that a fair trial is a fundamental constitutional right having as one of its key components the presumption of innocence. 425 U.S. at 503, 96 S.Ct. 1691. Recognizing the likelihood that readily identifiable prison clothing would impair the presumption of innocence in the eyes of a jury, the Supreme Court went on to say in Estelle that:

Unlike physical restraints, permitted under [Illinois v.] Allen, [397 U.S. 337, 90 S.Ct. 1057, 25 L.Ed.2d 353 (1970),] ... compelling an accused to wear jail clothing furthers no essential state policy. That it may be more convenient for jail administrators, a factor quite unlike the substantial need to impose physical restraints upon contumacious defendants, provides no justification for the practice.

425 U.S. at 505, 96 S.Ct. 1691 (internal footnote omitted).

Analyzing the Estelle ruling, this Court in State ex rel. McMannis v. Mohn, 163 W.Va. 129, 254 S.E.2d 805 (1979), noted that "Estelle is bottomed on the defendant's constitutionally sanctioned presumption of innocence, across which prison attire can cast a substantial shadow, since the attire communicates a condition of guilt." Id. at 135, 254 S.E.2d at 808. We went on to hold in syllabus point two of McMannis that "[a] criminal defendant has the right under the Due Process Clause of our State and Federal Constitutions not to be forced to trial in identifiable prison attire." After so finding, we examined in McMannis whether the constitutional principle extended to witnesses for the defense. Again relying on the pivotal issue of presumption of innocence, this Court found that a defendant has no constitutional right to have his or her witnesses appear at trial in civilian clothing because "[t]he defendant's witnesses are not cloaked in his presumption of innocence, nor do they derive such shelter independently." Id. Similarly, the presumption of innocence was the reason why this Court found that criminal defendants in recidivist proceedings were afforded the same constitutional protections as any similarly situated defendant and could not be compelled to wear jail clothing. State v. Reedy, 177 W.Va. 406, 352 S.E.2d 158 (1986).

None of these cases — Estelle, McMannis or Reedy— specifically discussed the appearance of a criminal defendant in the context of a bifurcated proceeding. It was not until the May 23, 2005, decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in Deck v. Missouri, 544 U.S. 622, 125 S.Ct. 2007, 161 L.Ed.2d 953, that the constitutionality of the forced appearance of a criminal defendant at the guilt phase versus the penalty phase of a bifurcated capital offense trial was definitively addressed, albeit in a...