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Might a defendant’s proper to confront witnesses at trial be violated if a trial choose requires everybody to put on a face masks at trial? The Fourth Circuit has decided that the reply is “no.”
In October 2020, Officer Maynard of the Logan Police Division and one other officer arrested Robert Wilfong. Wilfong had excellent warrants in West Virginia and was publicly intoxicated. On the police station, Wilfong requested to make use of the restroom. Maynard escorted Wilfong to the restroom however Maynard finally dragged him out of the lavatory and slammed Wilfong’s head right into a door body after which dropped him to the bottom. Wilfong lay on the ground bleeding out of his head as an ambulance was known as.
Maynard was indicted on one rely of deprivation of rights beneath shade of legislation. In the course of the trial, the trial choose ordered all trial individuals, together with witnesses, to put on face masks due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Maynard’s attorneys objected and requested the usage of face shields as a substitute, although the request was denied. The jury finally convicted him of violating Wilfong’s rights by utilizing extreme pressure on him.
The appeals courtroom upheld the trial choose’s resolution. The Fourth Circuit decided that Mayfield had enough proper to confront the witnesses in opposition to him and located no violation of the confrontation clause.
The Proper to Confront Witnesses Was Not Impaired By Face Masks
Prison defendants have a proper to “confront” their accusers in open courtroom beneath the Sixth Modification of the federal structure. This proper is often interpreted to imply that the defendants, or their attorneys, have a proper to cross-examine witnesses in opposition to the defendant. The questioning is to be nose to nose in open courtroom. Alternatively, the suitable to confront might be glad absent a nose to nose confront if the denial is for an essential public coverage and that the testimony is in any other case dependable.
The appeals courtroom agreed that safety in opposition to the unfold of Covid-19 was an essential public coverage. The courtroom famous that by November 2021, almost 5,000 individuals had died in West Virginia alone and greater than 700,000 had died of Covid-19 in america. Carrying face masks solely masking the nostril and mouth was a suitable different to unreasonably delaying trial. Whereas face shields have been an choice, the CDC and medical neighborhood had particularly advisable face masks.
The actual debate was whether or not a jury might assess witnesses whereas they have been sporting facial masks. Facial masks impede imaginative and prescient of facial expressions which can hinder whether or not a jury can assess their credibility. Nevertheless, witness testimony is about extra than simply their facial expressions. Jurors can even consider witnesses’ phrases, physique language, mannerisms, and different elements when a witness is testifying.
Furthermore, the witnesses have been current within the courtroom with the defendant and jury. For the reason that pandemic, many courts have permitted witnesses to testify by distant platform equivalent to zoom though they wouldn’t be in the identical room because the jury. If it was not a violation of the suitable
to confront witnesses whereas the witness is on zoom, an in-person witness sporting a face masks has no influence on a defendant’s constitutional rights.
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