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	<title>Fresno Criminal Defense &#187; Juvenile Law</title>
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	<description>The Law Office of Fresno Criminal Defense Lawyer Rick Horowitz</description>
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		<title>Exoneration by Association</title>
		<link>http://fresnocriminaldefense.com/juvenile-law/exoneration-by-association/</link>
		<comments>http://fresnocriminaldefense.com/juvenile-law/exoneration-by-association/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 29 Mar 2010 17:43:06 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>RickH</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Juvenile Law]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[exoneration by association]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[guilt by association]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[high school delinquency]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[school prank]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[white power]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://fresnocriminaldefense.com/?p=896</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[A Letter to the Editor of the Fresno Bee finally forces me to write a post I&#8217;ve been deliberately avoiding for at least two weeks now.  It&#8217;s not that I don&#8217;t want to talk about the problem the letter addresses.  It&#8217;s that the case the writer addresses is, to my understanding, still wending its way [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>A Letter to the Editor of the Fresno Bee finally forces me to write a post I&#8217;ve been deliberately avoiding for at least two weeks now.  It&#8217;s not that I don&#8217;t want to talk about the problem the letter addresses.  It&#8217;s that the case the writer addresses is, to my understanding, still wending its way through the system; I know the attorneys handling the case; and I haven&#8217;t wanted to write anything that might &#8212; and I stress <em>might</em>, because I&#8217;m such a small fish in this pond &#8212; have an impact on the outcome of the case.</p>
<p>The Letter, however, requires a response.</p>
<p><span id="more-896"></span>The basic background facts are these:</p>
<blockquote><p>Five students [were] expelled from Central High School for cutting down two  trees as a senior prank&#8230;.</p>
<p>The students are all seniors and football players&#8230;.</p>
<p>&#8230;[T]he prank was a case of &#8220;significant vandalism,&#8221; with estimated damage  between $7,500 and $14,000.</p>
<p>The boys said they regret chopping down the trees, a prank meant to  deprive junior classmates of shade.</p>
<p>&#8220;I wouldn&#8217;t do it again,&#8221;  Jackson said. &#8220;It was a bad choice.&#8221;  (Tracy Correa, <a title="Central High, expelled students waging legal battle" href="http://www.fresnobee.com/2010/03/16/1861904/central-high-blocks-return-of.html" target="_blank">&#8220;Central High, expelled students waging legal battle&#8221;</a> (March 16, 2010) FresnoBee.com.)</p></blockquote>
<p>Now, at any given time, my criminal defense practice probably involves anywhere from 40% to 60% juvenile cases.  The majority of these cases come to me because of a limited contract I signed to accept a certain number of indigent cases per month.  I signed this contract a couple of years after I first started to practice law as a means of insuring that I could at least pay the rent on my office while I was trying to build my own practice; the steady income meant that even if I couldn&#8217;t help my wife with our family finances, I could at least cover the very basic needs for my office and stay in practice long enough to build a reputation and clientele.  With this contract, the juveniles I represent are typically from lower income families, which for some strange reason means I&#8217;m also usually representing minors from minority groups.</p>
<p>I can tell you that in <em>my</em> neck of the woods when a kid causes $7,500 to $14,000 damage to school property, he or she (although almost all of my clients are males) is going to be charged with at least one felony count and the minor is going to be in custody when I first meet him.  In many cases, that minor is going to remain in custody until the case is resolved.</p>
<p>For reasons I don&#8217;t completely understand, this case is being handled differently. Here, for example, is part of the letter that finally caused me to write about the case:</p>
<blockquote><p>Enough already!  Why so many letters condemning the actions of five high school students who cut down two trees?  They have apologized, been punished and offered restitution.  But many of the letters still condemn their parents as well.  For what?  For standing up for their kids after the original school-dictated punishment was escalated?</p>
<p>Obviously, the youngsters made a terrible mistake.  But did it merit this level of denunciations and shaming? (Carolee Trefts, &#8220;Enough with the trees prank&#8221; in Letters to the Editor (March 29, 2010) Fresno Bee, p. B3, col. 3.)</p></blockquote>
<p>The letter goes on to talk about Wall Street scandals, corrupt congress representatives and the war in Afghanistan, indicating that these are important problems which were allegedly ignored by those now complaining about these &#8220;youngsters.&#8221;</p>
<p>The &#8220;youngsters&#8221; are seniors at Central High School &#8212; at least one is 18 years old and thus eligible to be charged as an adult.  Normally, that&#8217;s exactly what would happen.  But these kids are not only <em>not</em> apparently charged with any crimes and are <em>not</em> in custody, but they are giving television interviews about the mean school district that expelled them and won&#8217;t let them return to class.</p>
<p>In addition, not insignificant segments of the community are rallying behind them and against the school district, as this Letter to the Editor shows.  An earlier story I read in the paper edition of the Bee indicated Fresno&#8217;s police chief believed it should be left  to the school to handle.  When the school district violated a court order to allow the students to return, the police refused to enforce the court order.  (See <a title="Court hearing postponed in Central tree-cutting case" href="http://www.fresnobee.com/2010/03/17/1863228/mediation-stalls-in-central-tree.html" target="_blank">the video accompanying this article</a>.)</p>
<p>At first, I thought it must be that the kids were middle-class white kids, but I don&#8217;t think that&#8217;s it.  From what I can tell, <em>two</em> of the kids are white; the other three appear to be Hispanic.</p>
<p>Maybe it&#8217;s because the Hispanic kids are getting a free ride based on their association with the white kids.  After all, it&#8217;s normal for charges in Fresno to be determined by considering with whom the miscreants associate.  If, for example, you live in a neighborhood where some of the kids are gang members and you get into trouble with one of them, you&#8217;re almost certainly going to be facing a gang enhancement or independent gang charges; it&#8217;s a clear-cut case of guilt-by-association.  I suppose it&#8217;s possible, then, that what we have here is a case of exoneration or, &#8212; since those involved are at least being punished by the school system and by the fact that the parents have had to spend money on attorneys in the civil matter &#8212; at least a case where the police are staying out of it because white kids are involved.</p>
<p>Is it possible that the involvement of a couple of white kids can provide absolution for all?</p>
<p>Or maybe Fresnans are just feeling generous and compassionate these days.</p>
<p>Don&#8217;t misunderstand me: I don&#8217;t think the kids should be charged with crimes.  It was &#8212; felony vandalism, yes &#8212; but as they said, it was also a stupid prank.  If you read my post from a couple weeks ago, you might guess that I&#8217;m in favor of handling the case as it is currently being handled.</p>
<p>Juveniles sometimes do stupid things.  <em>More</em> juvenile cases should be handled like this one.</p>
<hr /><h2>Comments</h2><ul><li><a href="http://fresnocriminaldefense.com/juvenile-law/exoneration-by-association/">April 2, 2010</a>, Primal writes: First of all, thank you for your post.

I would like to point out a couple of things as a non-lawyer.

You stated that, "...not insignificant segments of the community are rallying behind them and against the school district...".

Actually, from the various sources I found covering this story, which provided a feedbacks/comments forum, I saw an overwhelming majority speaking out against what the kids did, making whatever support base they attempted to show very insignificant, in my opinion.

As it is, the so-called televised protest for the kids seems staged, to me. If anything, I was surprised at how small a showing was actually there to support them.

You closed with, "More juvenile cases should be handled like this one.". I respectfully disagree.

I believe this incident became such a public matter because it was the strategy of the attorney/s and the parents to try to make these kids out to be victims. I believe they were counting on their Community to back them up. I'm guessing they were pretty surprised &amp; disappointed when they discovered that the majority was against them. We weren't about to fall for such a bogus term as "prank", when "vandalism" was clearly written all over this incident.

Had these kids not had parents who immediately scrambled for an attorney to dream up the whole "prank" story, I think things might have gone harder for them. Also, if what was discussed in some of the forums is accurate, that one of the parents was connected to the school district, perhaps the school may have been more inclined to do what they should've done and pressed charges, early on.

From the beginning, the word "prank" was being used for what appeared to be for no other reason than to lessen the actual vandalism that occurred. What I found to be disturbing was the planning that went into committing this crime. What bothered me the most was the reason for the vandalism, to deprive other students from benefitting from the shade that was traditionally provided to all students.

I really feel that the reason alone speaks volumes about the type of people these kids are growing up to become and the kind of parenting they've had, especially considering how the parents have mishandled this whole situation. Had they been better parents, punishment from them would've made the school's decision/actions feel/look like a walk in the park.

I believe that a recent story regarding a threatening letter to the parents is being publicized in an attempt to gain sympathy for those vandals, along with their parents, and again, to distract from the crime that actually took place.

As far as I'm concerned, the vandals admitted a crime (a felony), and their parents confirmed it. As such, I believe there's still plenty of time to file charges, something that should've happened from the start.

I think this whole thing comes down to kids who were given special treatment, by not being arrested, which made them feel entitled to even more special consideration, the supposed "right" to continue attending a school they intentionally desecrated.

I'm just grateful that the majority of the Public saw through the "prank" facade, and recognized what I feel this whole thing is really all about, vandalism, felony vandalism.</li></ul><hr /><h2>Related posts:</h2><ul><li><a href="http://fresnocriminaldefense.com/police-state/time-to-fight-back/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent Link: Time to Fight Back?">Time to Fight Back?</a></li><li><a href="http://fresnocriminaldefense.com/crime-economy/nothing-to-fear/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent Link: Nothing to Fear">Nothing to Fear</a></li><li><a href="http://fresnocriminaldefense.com/juvenile-law/three-thousand-and-zero/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent Link: Three-Thousand and Zero">Three-Thousand and Zero</a></li></ul><hr /><small>Copyright &copy; 2011<br /> This feed is for personal, non-commercial use only. <br /> The use of this feed on other websites breaches copyright. If this content is not in your news reader, it makes the page you are viewing an infringement of the copyright. (Digital Fingerprint:<br /> a21c78f3665412e538511ca143dcc95f)</small>]]></content:encoded>
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		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Three-Thousand and Zero</title>
		<link>http://fresnocriminaldefense.com/juvenile-law/three-thousand-and-zero/</link>
		<comments>http://fresnocriminaldefense.com/juvenile-law/three-thousand-and-zero/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 27 Feb 2010 03:06:40 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>RickH</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Juvenile Law]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[children]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[false security]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[intellectual dishonesty]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[intellectual honest]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[security]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[shackles]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[shackling children]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[shackling juveniles]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://fresnocriminaldefense.com/?p=764</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[What in the world do I mean with a blog article titled &#8220;Three-Thousand and Zero&#8221;? The simple answer is that they&#8217;re numbers. But you knew that. In 2006 or 2007, like me, the public defenders of a juvenile justice court in Miami-Dade, Florida, got tired of seeing all their children brought to court in shackles.  [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>What in the world do I mean with a blog article titled &#8220;Three-Thousand and Zero&#8221;?</p>
<p>The simple answer is that they&#8217;re numbers.</p>
<p>But you knew that.</p>
<p><span id="more-764"></span>In 2006 or 2007, like me, the public defenders of a juvenile justice court in Miami-Dade, Florida, got tired of seeing all their children brought to court in shackles.  They started running motions to have them unshackled.</p>
<blockquote><p>Today, more than 95 percent of our child clients appear without chains and shackles before all four juvenile judges.  With more than 3,000 detained children having appeared in court since our first motion, we have had no incidents of a child injuring or attempting to injure anyone in court, and no detained child has escaped from the courtroom.  (Carlos Martinez, <a title="Children in Chains (National Legal Aid &amp; Defender article)" href="http://www.pdmiami.com/NLADACornerstoneMartinezArticleMay-Aug2007.pdf" target="_blank">&#8220;Children in Chains: Why are Children in Florida Treated as Enemy Combatants?&#8221;</a> (May-August 2007) National Legal Aid &amp; Defender Association, vol. 29, no. 1, p. 10.)</p></blockquote>
<p>Three-thousand unshackled children.  (<em>Un</em>shackled!  My G*d!  <em>What</em> is the world coming to?!)  Zero incidents of injury, attempted injury or escape.</p>
<p>California, according to the California Supreme Court and numerous judges who have read and accept their duty to uphold the law,</p>
<blockquote><p>held that minors cannot be shackled in any juvenile court proceedings without an individualized showing of need, the same as in jury trials, even though no jurors are present in juvenile court.  (James R. Brandlin, <a title="Safety First (Daily Journal)" href="http://www.dailyjournal.com/cle.cfm?show=CLEDisplayArticle&amp;qVersionID=281&amp;eid=900647&amp;evid=1" target="_blank">&#8220;Safety First&#8221;</a> (Date Unknown) The Daily Journal, p. 7.)</p></blockquote>
<p>But Fresno loves nothing if it doesn&#8217;t love living in and endorsing a police state.  So in Fresno, California, shackles are <a title="de rigueur (Wikipedia)" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_rigueur" target="_blank"><em>de rigueur</em>.</a></p>
<p>I&#8217;ve written <a title="&quot;Our Policy Hasn't Changed, Mr. Horowitz&quot;" href="http://fresnocriminaldefense.com/courts-courthouses/our-policy-hasnt-changed-mr-horowitz/" target="_blank">one</a> or <a title="Starfish: The Obligatory End-of-Year Post" href="http://www.rhdefense.com/blog/my-practice-experiences/the-obligatory-end-of-year-post/" target="_blank">more</a> articles on <a title="The Shame of the Juvenile Court" href="http://www.rhdefense.com/blog/police-state/the-shame-of-the-juvenile-court/" target="_blank">this situation</a> in the past, so I won&#8217;t go into all the arguments against shackles again here.</p>
<p>What I want to add, though, is this:  Fresno&#8217;s juvenile court <em>claims</em> that they are not violating the law against shackling because they are not shackling as a matter of policy.  Any Fresno juvenile court judge making that claim is intellectually dishonest.  Deputies have testified under oath that minors were shackled because it was policy.  Deputies have stated off-the-record that it is policy that drives the shackling.</p>
<p>No amount of going back after the fact to find out that the child told another child &#8212; or even an adult &#8212; to &#8220;fuck off,&#8221; or that he stuffed toilet paper into his toilet until it overflowed, or that he banged on the door of his cell because he was bored stiff, is going to change that.</p>
<p>By the way, I think the fact that I &#8220;win&#8221; about 50% or more &#8212; two out of three since yesterday &#8212; motions that I bring to have children I represent unshackled shows that they are being indiscriminately shackled.  Most of these &#8220;wins&#8221; occur without argument: I make a challenge, the completely irrational procedure allowing deputies to go look for a reason is implemented and upon the deputies&#8217; return, they state &#8220;The Sheriff&#8217;s Department will not object to the minor being unshackled.&#8221;</p>
<p>Boom!  The shackles &#8212; which <em>clearly</em> should never have been placed on the child to begin with &#8212; come off.</p>
<p>And something else that needs to be understood is this: the courts do not have to earn<em> </em>respect like most other entities or people do; the court has armed officers to enforce their power to lock people up for &#8220;dissing&#8221; them, for one thing.  But beyond that, they are duly-constituted courts of law under our system of government.</p>
<p>One thing courts <em>can</em> do, however, is to <em>lose</em> respect, when they forget that they are duly-constituted courts of <em>law</em> under our system of government.  Just because the Sheriff&#8217;s Department <em>wants</em> to do something does not make it legal.</p>
<p>And I know one way they the courts can lose respect.  Or, rather, I&#8217;ve heard the California Supreme Court say one of the ways it can be done.  The <em>California Supreme Court</em> &#8212; so please don&#8217;t shoot the messenger here &#8211;notes one difficulty for courts is:</p>
<blockquote><p>the disrespect for the entire judicial system…incident to the unjustifiable use of physical restraints….  (<em>People v. Duran</em> (1976) 16 Cal.3d 282, 291 [127 Cal.Rptr. 618].)</p></blockquote>
<p>Moreover, the Fresno juvenile justice court judges who approve shackling for some children on the basis of the Sheriff&#8217;s deputies coming back &#8212; <em>after being unable to find any better reason for shackling children </em>&#8211; to run through the list of sins of those children while in custody in their pods is &#8212; well, I already said it: an exhibition of intellectual dishonesty.</p>
<blockquote><p>[N]o child should be brought into the courtroom in shackles except under extraordinary circumstances backed by evidence.  (Brian D. Gallagher and John C. Lore III, &#8220;Shackling Children in Juvenile Court: The Growing Debate, Recent Trends and the Way to Protect Everyone&#8217;s Interest&#8221; (2008) 12 U.C. Davis J. Juv. L. &amp; Pol&#8217;y 453, 455.)</p></blockquote>
<p>&#8220;But that&#8217;s not the law!&#8221;  I can hear these intellectually-dishonest judges shouting already.  &#8220;That&#8217;s just some namby-pamby touchy-feeling liberal writing some silly law review article!&#8221;</p>
<p>Well, how&#8217;s this for some law?</p>
<blockquote><p>[T]he use of this technique is itself something of an affront to the very dignity and decorum of judicial proceedings that the judge is seeking to uphold.  (<em>Tiffany A. v. Superior Court</em> (2007) 150 Cal.App.4th 1344, 1355-1356 [59 Cal.Rptr.3d 363], quoting the United States Supreme Court in <em>Illinois v. Allen</em> (1970) 397 U.S. 337, 344 [90 S.Ct. 1057, 25 L.Ed.2d 353].)</p></blockquote>
<p>Or maybe this?</p>
<blockquote><p>[N]o California State court has endorsed the use of physical restraints based solely on the defendants&#8217; status in custody, the lack of courtroom security personnel, or the inadequacy of the court facilities.  (<em>Tiffany A., supra, </em>150 Cal.App.4th at 1358.)</p></blockquote>
<p>What about this?</p>
<blockquote><p>While we are sympathetic to the obligations and responsibility our conclusion may impose upon the juvenile delinquency court, the Sheriff&#8217;s Department and the People, <em>those pale in comparison to the values we uphold</em>.  (<em>Tiffany A., supra, </em>150 Cal.App.4th at 1362, emphasis added.)</p></blockquote>
<p>One last one, for now,</p>
<blockquote><p>Although the Duran opinion was written in the context of a jury trial it has application to other proceedings as well.  Respect for the dignity of the individual and the court are values to be preserved whether or not a jury is present.  (<em>Solomon v. Superior Court of Los Angeles County</em> (1981) 122 Cal.App.3d 532, 536 [ 177 Cal.Rptr. 1].)</p></blockquote>
<p>In the <em>Duran</em> case, by the way, the two defendants were in a courtroom where there was only one bailiff.  It was an adult court, so there was access to the outside.  The defendants had been charged with <em>armed</em> robbery.</p>
<p>The <em>Tiffany A.</em> case involved minors who had access to the outside and, if they could just get loose from restraints and away from a deputy, they could escape.  Nevertheless, <em>Tiffany A. </em>found that shackling is &#8220;anti-therapeutic for juveniles [and] antithetical to the rehabilitative aims of the juvenile justice system.&#8221;  (<em>Tiffany A., supra, </em>150 Cal.App.4th at 1354, fn.7.)</p>
<p>Fresno&#8217;s judges seem to be unconcerned with the use of shackles in juvenile court.  The deputies want them.  There&#8217;s no one there to see inside the locked courtroom (except the attorneys, court personnel, families of the kids and possibly &#8220;victims&#8221; accompanied by their court-appointed hand-holders).  But,</p>
<blockquote><p>[w]hile <em>a</em> primary concern regarding the use of physical restraints is the resultant prejudice if they are viewed by the jury, <em>that is not the only reason for the limitation of their use.</em> Also of concern is the potential unsettling effect on the defendant and therefore on his ability to present a defense, and &#8221; &#8216;the affront to human dignity, the disrespect for the entire judicial system which is incident to unjustifiable use of physical restraints, as well as the effect such restraints have upon a defendant&#8217;s decision to take the stand.&#8217; &#8221; &#8230; As we have noted, the&#8230;rule of &#8216;evident necessity&#8217; serves not merely to insulate the jury from prejudice, but to maintain the composure and dignity of the individual accused, and to preserve respect for the judicial system as a whole; <em>these are paramount values to be preserved irrespective of whether a jury is present during the proceeding</em>.  (<em>In re Deshaun M. </em>(2007) 148 Cal.App.4th 1384, 1387 [56 Cal.Rptr.3d 627], at times quoting <em>People v. Fierro</em> (1991) 1 Cal.4th 173 [3 Cal.Rptr.2d 426].], emphasis added.)</p></blockquote>
<p>When the court does not know why a child has been brought to court shackled, then, at least for that period of time, these paramount values are being ignored, the court sacrifices its dignity and the only respect it gets is that which it can force at the barrel of a deputy&#8217;s gun or threat of incarceration.</p>
<p>I&#8217;m just sayin&#8217;.</p>
<hr /><h2>Comments</h2><ul><li><a href="http://fresnocriminaldefense.com/juvenile-law/three-thousand-and-zero/">March 4, 2010</a>, <a href='http://www.rhdefense.com/blog/law-social-issues/legislating-morality/' rel='external nofollow' class='url'>Legislating Morality | Probable Cause</a> writes: [...] doing anything illegal by not fighting back against &#8220;minor&#8221; wrongs like the routine shackling of juveniles. Despite inflation, if I only had a nickel for every time another attorney told me, in [...]</li></ul><hr /><h2>Related posts:</h2><ul><li><a href="http://fresnocriminaldefense.com/police-state/who-is-the-king-sowing-the-seeds-of-disrespect-for-the-law/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent Link: Who is the King?: Sowing the Seeds of Disrespect for the Law">Who is the King?: Sowing the Seeds of Disrespect for the Law</a></li></ul><hr /><small>Copyright &copy; 2011<br /> This feed is for personal, non-commercial use only. <br /> The use of this feed on other websites breaches copyright. If this content is not in your news reader, it makes the page you are viewing an infringement of the copyright. (Digital Fingerprint:<br /> a21c78f3665412e538511ca143dcc95f)</small>]]></content:encoded>
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		</item>
		<item>
		<title>&#8220;Our Policy Hasn&#8217;t Changed, Mr. Horowitz&#8221;</title>
		<link>http://fresnocriminaldefense.com/courts-courthouses/our-policy-hasnt-changed-mr-horowitz/</link>
		<comments>http://fresnocriminaldefense.com/courts-courthouses/our-policy-hasnt-changed-mr-horowitz/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 16 Nov 2009 01:09:09 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>RickH</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Courts & Courthouses]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Juvenile Law]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[impotent judges]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[juvenile court]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[juveniles]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[lawless judges]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[shackles]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[shackling]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[shackling juveniles]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[spineless judges]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://fresnocriminaldefense.com/?p=630</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Unfortunately, before I can tell you why I wrote this post, I have to tell you about something I was planning never to blog about.  I had hoped I would not have to write this post. Friday&#8217;s court session made me realize I had no choice. To get into a juvenile courtroom in Fresno County [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Unfortunately, before I can tell you why I wrote this post, I have to tell you about something I was planning never to blog about.  I had hoped I would not have to write this post.</p>
<p>Friday&#8217;s court session made me realize I had no choice.</p>
<p><span id="more-630"></span>To get into a juvenile courtroom in Fresno County through the front door of that courtroom is impossible unless the door is opened from the inside.  For anyone.  It&#8217;s physically impossible.</p>
<p>To get <em>out</em> of that courtroom is impossible without a keycard.  Defense attorneys — except public defenders and employees of the firm that handles conflict cases the public defender cannot take — do not have keycards.  Obviously, family members of minors brought before the court, as well as the minors themselves, are also not given such cards.</p>
<p>Since it is nearly impossible to exit the courtroom, why are numerous minors brought before the juvenile court shackled?</p>
<p>In a word, it happens because of an illegal policy, and local judges who have chosen to thumb their noses at the California Supreme Court.  Fresno County, it seems, is not a part of the State of California.  We are not subject to the jurisdiction of the California Supreme Court.  Their opinions are advisory only.</p>
<p>About the middle of this past year, I attempted to challenge the policy because the California Supreme Court has clearly held that the reliance on &#8220;policy&#8221; is illegal.  The essential circumstances are outlined in <a title="Motion to Allow Client the Dignity of Entering the Courtroom Without Shackles" href="http://www.jdsupra.com/post/documentViewer.aspx?fid=2541ec42-9ec4-4b49-a082-6473dc7eb04f" target="_blank">this linked brief.</a></p>
<p>The immediate upshot of my objection was that the court allowed the Sheriff&#8217;s Department a couple of hours to <span style="text-decoration: line-through;">come up with an excuse for</span> investigate why the minor was shackled and <span style="text-decoration: line-through;">ordered</span> requested they have someone present in the afternoon to <span style="text-decoration: line-through;">state the excuse</span> provide the reason for the shackling.  During that time, the minor was apparently kept in a cell adjacent to the courtroom, because when I attempted to visit him at the Juvenile Justice Campus, I was told he was not there, that he was in the cell adjacent to the courtroom and that there was no way that the Juvenile Justice Campus could contact anyone to inform them I wanted to visit the client.  The Juvenile Court, it should be noted, is located on the Juvenile Justice Campus.</p>
<p>During the afternoon session, the sole witness was a deputy who had researched the issue.  The prosecutor led him through a series of questions about the minor&#8217;s behavior during six months of custody.  The minor had been a bad boy.  He sometimes yelled at other minors.  He occasionally broke the rules by, for example, banging on his door or not standing up properly in line.  Over a six-month period, there were — as I recall — a couple dozen incidents.  (A later attempt by me to argue that this was a fairly typical record for juveniles in the pod met a retort from the court that there was no such evidence before the court and that the court believed &#8220;most&#8221; juveniles in the pods followed the rules.  Any juvenile defense lawyer can tell you otherwise.  Next time, I will put &#8220;a few&#8221; witnesses on the stand who can testify about such things under oath.)</p>
<p>On cross-examination, the deputy stated that he had never seen, nor was he informed of, any incidents involving the minor being disruptive in court, <em>or on the way to court</em>.  I periodically noted, for the record, that my client had sat quietly next to me throughout the proceedings — at least once pointing out that he had responded to questions from the court by appending the honorific following his response.  The deputy <em>further</em> testified, under oath, that the policy of the Sheriff&#8217;s Department was to shackle all juveniles wearing purple shirts.  The purple shirts apparently signified that they came from a particular pod.  The criteria for being placed in the pod was either unclear or unknown.  (My own experience shows that it does not seem to be necessarily related to behavior.)  The deputy was not sure <em>why</em> &#8220;purple shirts&#8221; were shackled, merely stating that was the policy.</p>
<p>Notwithstanding the testimony of the deputy making it clear the minor was shackled because &#8220;that was the policy,&#8221; the court held that he was shackled — as the law allowed — for particularized reasons.  Although I had argued that the particularized reasons should relate to behavior within the courtroom, the court rejected this, going on to state specifically that he was shackled because of his &#8220;disruptive&#8221; behavior while in his cell, or in the pod.</p>
<p>The court then made the rather astounding statement, on the record, after having found that there were particularized reasons why the minor <em>needed</em> to be shackled during the proceedings, that:</p>
<blockquote><p>It&#8217;s just an arraignment where a plea or a denial is entered.  We do not have a trial.  We do not have a disposition and the Court finds that there are safety concerns; there are disruptive concerns based upon the nonconforming behavior that the minor has demonstrated while he has been in Juvenile Hall.</p>
<p>Now that having been said, the minor has behaved and done extraordinarily well in court.  <em>There is no reason for me to believe that he wouldn&#8217;t</em>.</p></blockquote>
<p>Let me repeat that.  The judge stated that the minor had behaved &#8220;extraordinarily well&#8221; during the hours spent in court that day.  He went on to state &#8220;<em>There is <strong>no reason</strong> for me to believe that he wouldn&#8217;t</em>.&#8221;  <em><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>No reason!</strong></span></em></p>
<p>So why were the restraints necessary again?</p>
<p>Before I could get the copy of the transcript and complete a writ on the issue, the misdemeanor case — did I forget to mention that it was a <em>misdemeanor</em> case? — was dismissed &#8220;in the interests of justice.&#8221;  This is often a euphemism for &#8220;we don&#8217;t have enough evidence to move forward, but we don&#8217;t want to say that on the record.&#8221;  I cannot prove that my making it clear I was not going to drop the matter is the reason for the dismissal.</p>
<p>Immediately after the hearing, I revised a form I utilize for keeping progress notes on my cases in court.   At the top, I added &#8220;OOC/IC&#8221; for &#8220;out of custody/in custody.&#8221;  Next to that, I have: &#8220;Shackles? Y N CO NA&#8221; — &#8220;Yes  No Cuffs-Only Not-Applicable.&#8221;  Whenever I go into court now, I circle the appropriate acronyms.  Suffice it to say that I intend someday that this will be useful.  (If only I could convince other defense attorneys to keep track.)</p>
<p>I was pleasantly surprised to note for quite some time that my clients were not coming to court in shackles.</p>
<p>Okay.  So now we get to what I mentioned at the beginning of this post: Friday&#8217;s hearing in another juvenile case.   My client is brought into court and he&#8217;s in shackles.  I noted that he&#8217;s been present numerous times in the past <em>without </em>shackles.  I asked the reason he was shackled <em>this</em> day and, of course, nobody knew.  The court asked the bailiff to find out.  The bailiff invoked the presiding judge&#8217;s &#8220;one-hour-to-find-a<span style="text-decoration: line-through;">n-excuse</span>-reason&#8221; rule.   She had, meanwhile, called for backup the minute I started complaining about the shackles.</p>
<p>Her supervisor having arrived in response to the call, the court suggested that the minor be unshackled and the extra deputy remain in the courtroom; there being <em>two</em> of them, it would be that much harder for my client to escape the locked private enclave where the public cannot see what is happening.  It would also be harder for him to jump up, get around the (fairly massive) table and sprint the 30 feet or so to the hyper-elevated bench before the two deputies accidentally shot the judge to death or mistakenly tasered his clerk.</p>
<p>Still, that seems reasonable, doesn&#8217;t it?  Remove handcuffs for a kid — <em>a kid!</em> — who was there to be told he was going to a group home before being reunited with his parents, and allow two armed deputies to stand nearby instead.</p>
<p>&#8220;No! That&#8217;s not how it&#8217;s done!,&#8221; exclaimed the bailiff.  And, I kid you not, she used her &#8220;stop right there&#8221; voice.  The judge (quite briefly) looked startled.</p>
<p>Now if <em>I</em> had used that tone, or spoken those words, to a judge?  I probably would escape tasering, but not a tongue-lashing.  (I know, because I once made the mistake of muttering <em>to my client</em> in a near whisper, &#8220;Or as the Constitution does&#8221; when a judge told me I would get as much time to cross-examine someone as he allowed.  But that&#8217;s another story.)</p>
<p>The judge, however, did not respond to the bailiff as he would to me.  Perhaps it&#8217;s because she&#8217;s armed.  Instead, he said, &#8220;Oh&#8230;okay.&#8221;  I looked at him and said, &#8220;The law says the judge is in control of his own courtroom,&#8221; but was told in no uncertain terms that &#8220;we aren&#8217;t going to get into that.&#8221;</p>
<p>After consultation with my client, he decided that he wanted no further delay and was willing to proceed with the hearing, ignoring the shackling issue.</p>
<p>But here&#8217;s the kicker:  As I was being escorted from the courtroom — remember, it is <em>impossible</em> to get out unless the bailiff unlocks the door — I asked the bailiff why my client was shackled today, when he has never been shackled before.</p>
<p>Her response?  &#8220;Our policy hasn&#8217;t changed, Mr. Horowitz.&#8221;</p>
<hr /><h2>Comments</h2><ul><li><a href="http://fresnocriminaldefense.com/courts-courthouses/our-policy-hasnt-changed-mr-horowitz/">November 15, 2009</a>, <a href='http://www.pixelita.com' rel='external nofollow' class='url'>Joni</a> writes: Well, even if there's no way in or out without a card, a prisoner is a prisoner for a reason. And I would prefer him to be secured (okay, shackled) rather than running loose in the room free to grab hostages if he so desires.  There was a case in Houston just yesterday in fact, where this idiot went on a 10-day crime spree culminating in the death of a woman crushed between two cars, one of which this idiot was driving. He hit her deliberately. Such a person, with nothing to lose, presumably, is not someone I want "loose" in a courtroom. At least not until and unless he's proven not guilty.</li><li><a href="http://fresnocriminaldefense.com/courts-courthouses/our-policy-hasnt-changed-mr-horowitz/">November 16, 2009</a>, RickH writes: A prisoner, in the cases I'm talking about, anyway, is a person who has been accused of a crime and is innocent unless proven otherwise.

Additionally, we're talking about children here.

But your comment touches on another point which I've been meaning to blog about for a long time: the idea that because there's a one in a million shot of something happening, we have to take steps to prevent it, even if it means mistreating hundreds of thousands or even millions of people who would never do the things you want to prevent.

I also love the idea that you twisted the time-worn American tradition -- the one that made our nation great -- on its head.  People are not guilty from the day they are born until the day they are proven guilty of some crime.  We don't take people into court to prove them not guilty.  It's the other way around: the State believes they have committed a crime and it is the responsibility, the burden, of the State to prove that what the State believes is true beyond a reasonable doubt.  

Thank you for being brave enough to be the living demonstration of what's gone wrong with our "justice" system.  Like you, most people today assume guilt and wait to have someone show them that they are wrong.  

This is what leads to shackling children.  This is what leads us to mistrust everyone and to assume the worst of each fellow citizen.  This is what has lead to the downfall of the United States of America.  

The only thing left now is for us to find a way to make it official.</li><li><a href="http://fresnocriminaldefense.com/courts-courthouses/our-policy-hasnt-changed-mr-horowitz/">November 16, 2009</a>, <a href='http://www.pixelita.com' rel='external nofollow' class='url'>Joni</a> writes: Well my knee-jerk reaction is a product of the rampant violence in our society, Rick. Violence which law enforcement seems powerless to do anything about.  Just this weekend, in the Houston Metropolitan area alone, a woman was killed by a killer on a 10-day crime spree with a stolen SUV, a 79-year old woman was killed feet from her front door by a mindicant who has a long history of violence; a mother and her two young children are dead at the hands of the mother's boyfriend who suffered from bipolar disorder and spend the day in terror as she repeatedly begged and pleaded with Montgomery County police to help her cope.  And on and on and on.</li><li><a href="http://fresnocriminaldefense.com/courts-courthouses/our-policy-hasnt-changed-mr-horowitz/">November 16, 2009</a>, <a href='http://www.pixelita.com' rel='external nofollow' class='url'>Joni</a> writes: I've ALWAYS been pretty much FOR the death penalty, even with the recent DNA findings.  And I firmly believe that death is the absolute cure for recidivism.  And especially lately, with these heinous crimes being committed by everyone, youngsters too, this is not the time for mollycoddling.  I don't think cops are hauling in innocent people and drawing and quartering them. I believe in the legal system (note, I refrained from calling it a justice system, because it is far from that).  Read the opinion out of Indiana about Ian Clark, who killed, in cold blood, little 2 year old Samantha, his girlfriend's daughter left in his care.  People like this are vermin, they are beyond redemption and as far as I'm concerned, should be exterminated.  I know this is a far reach from your post.  But I also think it is disengenuous for you to argue that shackles aren't warranted in most cases.  Even if one is innocent, one abides by the rules of the court.  And those rules are there to protect the majority.  Once the defendant is adjudicated, if he's found innocent, shackles come off. Works for me.</li><li><a href="http://fresnocriminaldefense.com/courts-courthouses/our-policy-hasnt-changed-mr-horowitz/">November 16, 2009</a>, RickH writes: Yeah, I guess I don't feel enough like God, nor do I have enough faith in the other flesh-and-blood gods walking through life with me, to believe that we get it right.  

I can imagine nothing less horrible than being innocent, knowing you're innocent and being up against folks who think you should be killed unless you can prove that you're not guilty.

But, <em>more importantly,</em> this post is about shackling children.  More to the point, neither case involved anyone -- <em>even</em> a child -- who had committed a felony or shown his or herself to be violent.  Re-read what the judge said about the child who was sitting next to me who was there <em>accused</em> but not convicted (never was, by the way, at least not in that case -- I don't know about any other cases with that child) of a misdemeanor.</li><li><a href="http://fresnocriminaldefense.com/courts-courthouses/our-policy-hasnt-changed-mr-horowitz/">November 19, 2009</a>, <a href='http://www.rhdefense.com/blog/my-practice-experiences/second-guessing-your-attorney/' rel='external nofollow' class='url'>Second Guessing Your Attorney | Probable Cause</a> writes: [...] the law doesn&#8217;t apply to the case to avoid a result you don&#8217;t want.  When I see things like this, it&#8217;s the only conclusion that makes sense.  You aren&#8217;t impartial: you&#8217;re afraid [...]</li><li><a href="http://fresnocriminaldefense.com/courts-courthouses/our-policy-hasnt-changed-mr-horowitz/">December 31, 2009</a>, <a href='http://www.rhdefense.com/blog/my-practice-experiences/the-obligatory-end-of-year-post/' rel='external nofollow' class='url'>Starfish: The Obligatory End-of-Year Post | Probable Cause</a> writes: [...] And after yesterday, where the primary evidence my client might misbehave involved such things as arguing with other kids during a handball game, I can assure you it&#8217;s true: the policy has not changed. [...]</li><li><a href="http://fresnocriminaldefense.com/courts-courthouses/our-policy-hasnt-changed-mr-horowitz/">February 19, 2010</a>, <a href='http://www.rhdefense.com/blog/uncategorized/the-shame-of-the-juvenile-court/' rel='external nofollow' class='url'>The Shame of the Juvenile Court | Probable Cause</a> writes: [...] which, right now in Fresno means me &#8212; who challenges this decision will find that although everyone knows the reason is &#8220;policy,&#8221; the court will then give the deputies at least an hour after a challenge to come up with an excuse [...]</li><li><a href="http://fresnocriminaldefense.com/courts-courthouses/our-policy-hasnt-changed-mr-horowitz/">February 26, 2010</a>, <a href='http://fresnocriminaldefense.com/uncategorized/three-thousand-and-zero/' rel='external nofollow' class='url'>Three-Thousand and Zero | Fresno Criminal Defense</a> writes: [...] written one or more articles on this situation in the past, so I won&#8217;t go into all the arguments against [...]</li></ul><hr /><h2>Related posts:</h2><ul><li><a href="http://fresnocriminaldefense.com/testimonials/letter-from-mike-t/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent Link: Letter from Mike T.">Letter from Mike T.</a></li><li><a href="http://fresnocriminaldefense.com/juvenile-law/three-thousand-and-zero/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent Link: Three-Thousand and Zero">Three-Thousand and Zero</a></li><li><a href="http://fresnocriminaldefense.com/administrivia/under-new-management/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent Link: Under New Management">Under New Management</a></li></ul><hr /><small>Copyright &copy; 2011<br /> This feed is for personal, non-commercial use only. <br /> The use of this feed on other websites breaches copyright. If this content is not in your news reader, it makes the page you are viewing an infringement of the copyright. (Digital Fingerprint:<br /> a21c78f3665412e538511ca143dcc95f)</small>]]></content:encoded>
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