An Ohio appeals court has thrown out a man’s aggravated murder conviction, saying a Franklin County judge’s decision to have the man walk in front of the jury wearing leg shackles – and drawing attention to it – unfairly influenced the trial’s outcome.
In a decision by a three-judge panel on March 31, Judge Carly Edelstein of the 10th District [Franklin County] Court of Appeals wrote in the opinion that Justus Robertson’s leg restraints could have caused the jury in his trial to question Robertson’s credibility, which was a crucial issue in the case. Appeals court Judges Kristin Boggs and Michael Mentel concurred with Edelstein’s opinion.
“This decision should not be construed as suggesting that every trial court error in ordering the use of visible shackles without adequate justification constitutes reversible plain error,” Edelstein wrote. “Given the confluence of unique facts of this case … we find this case to be the exceptional circumstance that requires correction of a manifest miscarriage of justice.”…