Stun Belt Used for First Time on a Defendant in Court

Ronnie Hawkins, a defendant in a three-strikes hearing, did not try to escape from the Long Beach courtroom. He did not attack a lawyer. He did not lunge at a witness.

His courtroom offense that outraged Municipal Judge Joan Comparet-Cassani was talking too much.

In a decision that was shocking to many--in particular the defendant, who was fitted with an electronic security belt under his jailhouse jumpsuit--the judge ordered her bailiff to administer a bone-jarring 50,000-volt jolt of electricity to Hawkins.

When Hawkins was zapped last week, he earned the dubious distinction of being the first defendant in Los Angeles County whose electronic security belt was activated. Courtroom observers said Hawkins grimaced and sat stiff as a board as he endured the eight-second current of electricity.

“If the guy was fighting with the bailiffs, I can understand using the belt to restrain him, but that was absolutely not the case,” said Deputy Public Defender Jacques Cain, who watched in court as he waited for a client’s hearing. “To physically punish a defendant for speaking out of turn seems . . . outrageous.”

Hawkins, who acted as his own attorney in the three-strikes hearing, angered the judge by continually interrupting her.

Comparet-Cassani said that a code of judicial ethics prevented her from discussing the case while it was still pending, and declined to comment.

For more than two years, Orange County officials and Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies have fitted some defendants--who are escape risks or who have a history of violent behavior in custody--with the high-tech law enforcement tool, which is battery-operated and delivers a shock above the left kidney. But deputies apparently had never activated a belt until last week.

Hawkins, 48, of Long Beach, was convicted in April of petty theft. But because he had two prior felonies, the “petty theft with a prior” offense was classified as a felony and considered a third strike.

The three-strikes sentencing hearing last week was continued until July 29 because Hawkins said he needed more time to recuperate from the electric shock.

The human rights group Amnesty International has waged a two-year campaign against the use of the electronic belt. British scientists have concluded that the belt’s shock poses health risks for people with heart ailments, said Angela Wright, a researcher at Amnesty’s London headquarters. Wright added that the belt can easily be abused by prison guards as a torture instrument.

Transcripts and interviews show that court officials believed that Hawkins should wear the belt because he had been violent in jail and disrupted court proceedings during his trial.

But the incident last week has left some Long Beach attorneys outraged at the judge’s order. The device should only be used, they contend, to prevent an escape or a violent act.

Stun belts are so new that their use still needs to be resolved, according to Laurie Levenson, a Loyola Law School dean. There are other, less aggressive ways to control loud but nonviolent defendants, Levenson said.

“I certainly believe that the court has the right to control security in the courtroom, but I think that people would be shocked to hear that a stun belt was being used to stop a defendant from talking,” she said. “It seems to me rather radical.”

Not everyone in the courtroom last Tuesday, however, disapproved of Comparet-Cassani’s decision.

“She let him talk a long time and when it was her turn to talk, he kept interrupting her and kept interrupting her and interrupting her,” said Edward Cook, a deputy public defender. “The guy was out of line and he got spanked. That’s all. It wasn’t a big deal to me.”

Capt. John Fuller of the Orange County marshal’s office said he cannot recall a time when the belt was activated on a defendant, although the belt has been used for several years.

“It’s not used on a common, everyday basis. It’s used only on certain defendants and only with the judge’s approval,” Fuller said.

Fuller said that if a defendant is required to wear the belt, its use is read into the court record, outside of the presence of jurors.

“It’s no secret that it’s being used during a trial. Everybody but the jurors know that a defendant is wearing the belt,” Fuller SAID.

More than 15 states and 100 counties across the country strap inmates into the REACT stun belt, according to Dennis Kaufman, president of Cleveland, Ohio-based Stun-Tech Inc., the belt’s manufacturer. A peace officer can activate the belt up to 300 feet from the wearer by switching on a remote control.

Since it came on the market five years ago, the belt has been used 27 times--eight of those by accident--to shock wearers across the country, Kaufman said. The shock, he said, poses few medical risks for wearers because the amperage is low.

Sgt. Richard Johnson, who trains courthouse deputies to use the belt, said it is “more humane and less intrusive” than other means of force because it protects deputies and innocent bystanders by allowing control of a defendant from a safe distance. Deputies activate the belt by using a device similar to a television remote control.

Defendants who are made to wear the belt are given a form beforehand that tells them they could get an electric shock for failing to comply with an officer’s verbal command, Johnson said. In a court, that would include the judge’s command, Johnson said.

But Los Angeles County Public Defender Michael P. Judge said that sheriff’s officials gave out different guidelines when the belts were first introduced.

“We were told,” Judge said, “that they would only be used when deputies determined that it was necessary to prevent some kind of violent conduct, not for interrupting the judge.”

As the sheriff’s internal affairs bureau conducts a routine investigation into the June 30 incident, Comparet-Cassani has come under fire from deputy public defenders who were in court when she ordered a bailiff to shock Hawkins.

Several have said that Hawkins was speaking loudly and repeatedly interrupted Comparet-Cassani as she denied his motions to remove one of his strikes from his record. But, they said, he was not using profanities or acting aggressively and did not deserve to be stunned.

Two deputy public defenders said they have complained to their supervisor in Long Beach.

“It was horrible, horrible,” said Deputy Public Defender Matthew Huey, one of the attorneys who complained. “It would be the equivalent of saying he’s talking too much and walking up and hitting him with a baton.”

But the public defenders were only present for Hawkins’ sentencing, so they know only half the story, according to Deputy Dist. Atty. Christopher Frisco, who prosecuted Hawkins’ three-strikes case. At his trial, Hawkins was removed twice from the courtroom for failing to comply with Comparet-Cassani’s orders, Frisco said.

Hawkins had been told during his four-day trial not to appeal to jurors’ sympathy by telling them he was HIV-positive and facing 25 years to life in prison, Frisco said. But Hawkins violated that order several times. And the bailiff told the court that deputies in Men’s Central Jail had disciplined Hawkins three times for behaving violently.

“I felt threatened,” Frisco said. “And the judge felt threatened.”

Leonard is a Times correspondent. Corwin is a staff writer.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Anatomy of the Belt

The 50,000-volt belt has a thick black waistband and a battery pack that rests against the lower back. In a courtroom, the device is worn under clothing so jurors will not know it is in use.

* Carrier: 4 inches wide, cloth, fits waists from 30 to 48 inches. Weighs 2 pounds.

* Transmitter: Used to activate shock. Hand-held, operates on one standard 9-volt alkaline battery. Range of up to 300 feet.

* Receiver: Placed over left kidney area.

* Stun device: Worn on belt by prisoner. Delivers shock for eight seconds. Weighs 2 pounds.

Source: Stun Tech Inc.