Defendants Dress for Success Before Judges and Juries

Tabetha Garibay Hoult left her cropped furry green sweater at home in favor of a white tailored dress when she was sentenced in federal court.

Daniel Allan Tuffree swapped his jailhouse blues for professorial gray suits during his six-week murder trial.

And Edna Reyes, being sentenced for killing her abusive husband, sported borrowed clothes instead of her own tattered garments.

Chalk it up to the importance of first impressions, but when an attorney prepares a case for trial, there is more to think about than the law.

Appearance, which includes such things as a client’s shirts, shoes, slacks and socks, must be considered, attorneys say. A courthouse fashion faux pas can influence the outcome of a case, they say.

“The presentation of the client is very important,” said Deputy Public Defender Robert A. Dahlstedt. “Most of the time we tell our clients, ‘Wear what you would wear to church.’ ”

When Hoult first appeared in federal court on charges that she and then-boyfriend Todd Hoult robbed a Westlake Village bank, the former high school soccer star wore a cropped fuzzy green sweater, black jeans and a pager bouncing on her belt.

Nine months later at her sentencing, a demure and now-married Tabetha Hoult wore the conservative white dress.

Was the transformation intentional? Absolutely.

“Certainly you don’t want her showing up in a Metallica T-shirt,” said her Dana Point attorney, Shawn Perez, who wanted his 23-year-old client to appear preppy and collegiate during her court appearances.

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“I am standing right now in shorts and a T-shirt that says, ‘Chicks dig me because I surf,’ but I certainly wouldn’t show up in court like that,” he said. “It is all a matter of dressing appropriately.”

Although dress is an important consideration in most professions, the stakes are raised in the courtroom, attorneys say.

Defense lawyers do not want their clients seen or photographed in jail clothes because the blue uniforms can be prejudicial, they argue.

When Tuffree was arraigned last year on charges that he shot and killed a Simi Valley police officer, a line of public defenders shielded him from news photographers. At the time, Tuffree--unshaven and dressed in jail garb--looked dazed.

But during his trial, the 49-year-old former high school teacher always appeared cleanshaven, his hair carefully combed, and dressed in varying shades of gray suits.

Behavioral scientists contend that impressions people make on one another are based 60% on appearance, 33% on the way people speak, and 7% on what they say. So appearance becomes particularly important during a jury trial where the defendant might not speak.

“I think it is important because all of us form first impressions based on appearance, and oftentimes clothing is the first thing we notice,” said Deputy Public Defender Susan Olson.

But although some attorneys might strive to create a certain intentional look for their clients, Olson warns that tampering with a person’s appearance can backfire by appearing phony.

“I think it is very important to have a person look themselves,” she said. “If a guy wears T-shirts and jeans . . . to put him in some sports suit makes him look ridiculous.”

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Often, suits are out of the question for defense attorneys because their clients simply cannot afford spiffy go-to-court clothes.

Assistant Public Defender Jean L. Farley once had a client walk into court wearing flip-flops. “I found out she didn’t have any other shoes,” Farley said. “It was really an eye-opener.”

Shoes can be a particular problem. Olson had a client with a 13D shoe size and no proper footwear. Faced with the prospect of taking her client to court in jail slippers, Olson asked around the office.

“Somebody said Judge [Charles R.] McGrath has pretty big feet,” she recalled.

Olson asked the judge for an old pair of shoes, and he let the defendant borrow a pair of loafers. The attorney had to cut through the leather heels to get the defendant’s big feet inside, which she said McGrath found amusing.

A veteran public defender, Olson has resorted to borrowing and buying clothes for her clients in the past.

“Every now and then I hit my husband up for a shirt, which he doesn’t like very much,” she said.

In 1994, Olson and Deputy Public Defender Howard Asher represented a 20-year-old Thousand Oaks man accused of slaying a Westlake Village nurse during a lengthy trial that ended in a murder conviction and subsequent death sentence.

Neither Mark Scott Thornton nor his family had the money to buy clothes for the high-profile trial, so Olson and Asher opened their own wallets to outfit their young client.

“We were not buying him Brooks Brothers suits,” Olson said.

Rather, the attorneys bought five simple dress shirts and a few pairs of pants. The defense investigator assigned to the case took Thornton’s clothes home each night to wash and iron them.

Aside from the obvious expense, Olson did not want to dress Thornton in a suit because of his age.

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“He had never worn a suit except for the time he took his girlfriend to the prom,” Olson said, explaining that to dress him up more would have seemed artificial.

The sentencing of Reyes, the Oxnard woman who admitted to killing her abusive husband, was another case in which attorneys had to pitch in to help a client who could not afford new clothes.

“She only had one dress she would wear on Sundays,” said Farley, her attorney. “But it was too tattered to wear to court.”

Before Reyes’ sentencing hearing, Farley e-mailed her colleagues at the courthouse asking if anyone had clothes Reyes could borrow. Nearly everyone responded, Farley said, and she took a complete wardrobe to the jail for Reyes to try on.

In some cases, attorneys turn to a small closet tucked away in the back of the public defender’s office to outfit their clients. The Clothing Room, as it is known, holds a collection of attorney hand-me-downs, including about 70 dress shirts, a few neckties, shoes and various pairs of dark-colored pants.

“You come in here and try to find something your client will look good in,” Dahlstedt said, gesturing to the racks of wrinkled shirts.

But in the best-case scenario, a defendant’s family comes to the rescue. For an upcoming robbery trial, the defendant’s sister sent Dahlstedt a beige-and-blue silk shirt and matching pants.

It’s a nice outfit, the attorney says, but there’s another consideration.

“I always like to have my clients wear white,” he said.