United States Ninth Circuit

In an appeal by criminal defendants challenging a requirement that pretrial detainees making their first appearance before a magistrate judge wear leg shackles, the court finds that: 1) the case is not moot; 2) there was appellate jurisdiction over the issues, and 3) although, the policy effectuates some diminution of the liberty of pretrial detainees and detracts to some extent from the dignity and the decorum of a critical stage of a criminal prosecution, the shackling policy was adopted with an adequate justification of its necessity.

Appellate Information

• Argued 11/01/2004
• Decided 09/15/2006
• Published 09/15/2006

Judges

• SCHROEDER, Chief Judge:, Before: SCHROEDER, Chief Judge, GOULD and CLIFTON, Circuit Judges.

Court

• United States Ninth Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellees:
  
• Carlton Frederick Gunn, Deputy Public Defender, Los Angeles, CA, for the defendants-appellants., Patrick R. Fitzgerald and Becky S. Walker, Assistant United States Attorneys, Los Angeles, CA for the plaintiff-appellee.