Courtroom Chains Entitle Spain to New Trial, Appeals Judges Say

Former Black Panther Johnny Spain should not have been compelled to wear shackles while on trial for murdering two San Quentin prison guards and is entitled to a new trial, a federal appeals court in Pasadena ruled Tuesday.

By a 2-1 vote, the U.S. 9th Circuit of Appeals upheld a 1986 lower-court decision that the 25 pounds of chains Spain was required to wear 10 to 12 hours daily during legal proceedings had prejudiced the jury against him and made it difficult for Spain to assist in his own defense.

“Due process requires that shackling be imposed only as a last resort,” Judge Cynthia Holcomb Hall wrote in the majority opinion.

The judge stated that the shackling, which spanned nearly four years of pre-trial proceedings and a 17-month trial, was “unparalleled” and not necessary for courtroom security.

Hall, who was joined in the appellate ruling by Judge Alex Kozinski, said that Marin County Superior Court Judge Henry Broderick failed to utilize the less onerous alternative of excluding Spain from the trial.

Hall noted that Spain had filed motions in which he said he was willing to give up his 6th Amendment right to confront his accusers in order to avoid the chaining.

Now 40, Spain was convicted in 1976 of murdering two guards and of conspiracy to escape San Quentin by force and violence in one of the most celebrated prison cases of the 1970s. Spain was acquitted of three other murder charges and an assault charge.

He was one of six inmates who were dubbed the “San Quentin Six,” after they were accused of murder, conspiracy and assault stemming from a bloody incident on Aug. 21, 1971, in which three guards and three inmates were killed during an escape attempt.

One of those killed was inmate George Jackson, a black revolutionary writer who authored the book “Soledad Brother.”

Jackson was shot down as he attempted to flee San Quentin after taking over the solitary confinement unit with a gun he produced after a visit with one of his attorneys. The attorney, Stephen M. Bingham, was later acquitted of murder and conspiracy charges in the case.

Three of Spain’s inmate co-defendants were acquitted of all charges against them, while two others were convicted of lesser charges.

During the trial, all six men were chained around the legs, wrists and waist and the chains were clearly visible to the jurors. Spectators and reporters were required to pass through metal detectors before entering the courtroom at Marin County Civic Center in San Rafael and they were separated from the participants by bulletproof glass.

The security measures were taken, in part, because a Marin County judge had been killed at the same courthouse in 1970 when George Jackson’s brother, Jonathan, took over a courtroom and attempted to exchange the judge, a prosecutor and a juror for his brother and other inmates.

In Tuesday’s ruling, Hall acknowledged that Broderick was justifed in his concerns about courtroom security but said the judge could have taken up Spain’s request to be excluded from the trial. She also noted that since testimony showed that Spain’s health deteriorated during the trial, the judge could have allowed Spain to stay away periodically to regain his strength.

Strong Dissent

Appellate Judge John Noonan, meanwhile, issued a strong dissent to Hall’s ruling.

“We have no authority to second-guess the procedure chosen and to overturn a verdict of murder fairly rendered 13 years ago,” Noonan wrote. He further asserted that trying Spain without chains would have put the prosecutors, judge, jury and bailiffs at risk.

Spain, who has been free on $350,000 bail since March of 1988, expressed satisfaction after hearing of Tuesday’s ruling.

“I’m really very happy,” he said in a telephone interview from Oakland.

Spain said he has been working as an electrician and that next week he will start teaching a course entitled, “Society Behind Bars” at UC Berkeley.

“I’m on an entirely different page now,” Spain said, referring to his new life. “It is a question of adapting myself to normal society. Nothing about my life has been normal.”

Spain had served a total of 21 years in prison. He was convicted of murder in 1966 when he was only 17.

His lawyer, Dennis Riordan, who has worked on the San Quentin case for 13 years, said he was elated that “the practice of chaining a black man in an American courtroom has been disapproved.”

Despite the court victory Tuesday, Spain’s legal battles are far from over.

Marin County Deputy Dist. Atty. Terry Boren, who once helped prosecute the San Quentin case, said that the state attorney general’s office will petition the entire 11 members of the 9th Circuit to rehear the case. Such review is at the discretion of the judges.

Boren also said that prosecutors are prepared, if need be, to go to the U.S. Supreme Court and, if unsuccessful there, to retry the case.

Boren called Tuesday’s ruling “absurd.”

“If the jury was prejudiced against Spain (because of the shackles),” Boren said, “they wouldn’t have acquitted him of some of the charges.”