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Title: Questions raised after shock belt used at Texas murder trial
Source: Reuters
URL Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/2015 ... as-judge-idUSKCN0RQ0C720150926
Published: Sep 26, 2015
Author: Lisa Bose McDermott
Post Date: 2015-09-26 10:16:47 by Willie Green
Keywords: None
Views: 2016
Comments: 7

TEXARKANA, Texas -- A potential death penalty trial in East Texas is set to resume on Monday after it was put on hold when a judge was said by a TV station to have had a shock belt used on the defendant for misbehaving.

James Calvert, 45, of Tyler, Texas, is on trial in Smith County, where prosecutors allege he beat and fatally shot his former wife at her home and abducted their 4-year-old son in October 2012.

Judge Jack Skeen allowed Calvert to defend himself, over objections from attorneys specializing in the death penalty, at the outset of the trial in August. Skeen also ordered a shock device be placed on Calvert for security reasons because of his unpredictable behavior, legal officials said.

On Sept. 15, when Calvert did not stand up at the judge's request, Skeen had an electric shock administered on the defendant that caused him to twist in pain before the jury, local TV broadcaster KLTV reported.

"Calvert refuses to stand up when talking to judge. Shock belt is administered, Calvert scream 'ahh' for about 5 seconds," Cody Lillich, a KLTV reporter, tweeted from the courtroom.

After Calvert was shocked, Skeen allowed public defenders who had been monitoring the hearings to defend him, court officials said. The trial is set to resume on Monday after it was put on recess on Sept. 16.

The judge has issued a gag order in the case, a court official said.

Skeen did not respond to requests for comment.

Legal experts said the judge's conduct could open the door to appeals if Calvert is convicted and possible sanction for abuse of the shock belt, which is to be used only if the defendant poses an immediate security risk.

"This is just a travesty of justice as far as I’m concerned. This man is facing an execution if he’s convicted," said George Parnham, a Houston lawyer who represented Andrea Yates, who drowned her five children and was found innocent by reason of insanity on appeal.

Skeen, who was Smith County district attorney before he was elected a district judge, has had no disciplinary sanctions, according to the Texas Bar Association.

Calvert has been disruptive because of mental illness, making it all the more reasonable to have had a lawyer represent him from the start, said Kathryn Kase, executive director of the Texas Defender Service, which has been monitoring the case.

"I know of no death penalty trial in the state of Texas where the defendant has been able to represent himself who got life in prison,” Kase said.

It is common to have a shock belt on defendants at jury trials for safety, and the device is less obvious than handcuffs or leg irons, Smith County Sheriff's Lieutenant Gary Middleton said.

"It's really pretty effective when we use it. It's kind of like a Taser," he said.

(Reporting by Lisa Bose McDermott; Writing by Jon Herskovitz; Editing by Mohammad Zargham)


Poster Comment:

Apparently Judge Jack Skeen has quite a controversial history of violating defendent's rights.

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#1. To: Willie Green (#0)

Apparently Judge Jack Skeen has quite a controversial history of violating defendent's rights.

It's Texas. Defendants have no rights.

Vicomte13  posted on  2015-09-26   10:22:21 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#2. To: Vicomte13, Willie Green (#1)

Apparently Judge Jack Skeen has quite a controversial history of violating defendent's rights.

It's Texas. Defendants have no rights.

Hog wash. They have everything NY, CA or MA or any other place. We just don't have super progressive asshats blaming the victims because animals got out of hand!

A potential death penalty trial in East Texas is set to resume on Monday after it was put on hold when a judge was said by a TV station to have had a shock belt used on the defendant for misbehaving.

I have no problem with this. People are crazy and believe they can beat others or act like children and throw a temper tantrum just because they can't act like animals in society. What do you do when you deal with animals you can't use the same rules of servility towards them. TASER TASER TASER! ;)

This is the same area where a gang of animals rape an 80yo lady while making her husband watch. These animals were in their teens if I remember right and it was just in the last couple of years.

Justified  posted on  2015-09-26   10:50:50 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#3. To: Justified (#2)

I have no problem with this. People are crazy and believe they can beat others or act like children and throw a temper tantrum just because they can't act like animals in society.

Well then they should put one of these collars on the judge and give him a dose of his own medicine.

I have no problem with zapping the defendendent if he presented an immediate danger to others in the court room. But he didn't. All he did was disrespect the judge by not standing up when he was talking to him. That doesn't threaten anybody except the judge's hyperinflated ego.

Willie Green  posted on  2015-09-26   11:25:26 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#4. To: Willie Green (#3)

"I have no problem with zapping the defendendent if he presented an immediate danger to others in the court room."

"The Gamesters of Triskelion".

misterwhite  posted on  2015-09-26   11:37:43 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#5. To: Willie Green (#3)

I have no problem with zapping the defendendent if he presented an immediate danger to others in the court room. But he didn't. All he did was disrespect the judge by not standing up when he was talking to him. That doesn't threaten anybody except the judge's hyperinflated ego.

Good.

If the defendant doesn't want to participate then he will lose in the end by going to jail. I do not agree it should be used unless defendant is disrupting court.

Maybe the trigger should be given to the bailiff and he be given specific guidance that the judge can not override?

What I see is that defendants don't want this because they can not usurp the law or act like gangsters in the court room. Many of these defendants are going to jail and they know it. So they act out to get a few last blows in at society before going to jail.

Justified  posted on  2015-09-26   11:59:06 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#6. To: Justified (#2) (Edited)

Well, the problem is that these "animals" are innocent men until the court convicts them.

I know, I know - to you Texans that's a mere nudge-wink detail. It's why you execute the innocent sometimes down there in all those executions you do.

Of course it's precisely because you Texans do that that the Supreme Court will eventually rule the death penalty unconstitutional for all of America.

So DO please continue just exactly as you do, because Texan attitudes about innocence and civil rights are so often the irritant that moves the Supremes to act in the direction we need to go. It's a cinch that Texans will never do the right thing, and Texas has a huge contingent in Congress. So Texas goes overboard, and the Supreme Court steps in, and soon we have new nationwide standards. Very good. Works for me. Not so much for you, in the end. But for the short term, on each aspect of human rights, you get to be cavalier, Texas style. And that makes the Supreme Court step in and remind them down in Dallas that Texas may be LIKE a whole 'nother country, but that in fact it isn't.

You do good work...at irritating the judiciary to give me what I want. Carry on.

Vicomte13  posted on  2015-09-26   14:44:10 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#7. To: Vicomte13 (#6)

Well, the problem is that these "animals" are innocent men until the court convicts them.

True but they even have to be civil while in court. When you come in for a traffic ticket they are not going to hook you up to a taser now will they? It was deemed necessary that he be controlled while in court.

I know, I know - to you Texans

You know nothing about Texas accept what propaganda NYslime prints. Texas is a very nice place to live as long as you are civil. You get out of hand and someone[cops or citizen] will bring you back to reality and remind you why its a civil place if you are respectful of others. If not we can play hardball as good as anyone.

Justified  posted on  2015-09-26   15:55:53 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


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