Yakima murder conviction overturned by state Supreme Court

OLYMPIA, Wash. -- Juries and jails don’t mix, the Washington State Supreme Court ruled Thursday, tossing out a Yakima County murder conviction on the grounds that it was unfair to hold a trial in jail and not in the courthouse.

In a 6-3 decision, the court reversed the conviction of James F. Jaime, whose 2006 murder trial was conducted in a courtroom in the basement of the Yakima County jail instead of across the street in the county courthouse.

The majority ruled the jail setting was prejudicial to the defendant in the same way that shackling a defendant in chains jeopardizes the presumption of innocence.

"We erect courthouses for a reason," Justice Debra Stephens wrote in the majority opinion. "They are a stage for public discourse, a neutral forum for the resolution of civil and criminal matters ... The use of a space other than a courthouse for a criminal trial, particularly when that space is a jailhouse, takes a step away from those dignities."

In its ruling, the high court did not prohibit the use of jail courtrooms. If defendants pose a serious security risk, a jailhouse setting may be the "fairest and most reasonable way to handle" them, just as defendants who are disruptive in court or a risk of escape may be shackled in view of juries, the court said.

But, the court added, trial judges should carefully analyze the facts before deciding whether extreme security measures are warranted, and Yakima County Superior Court Judge Blaine Gibson failed to do so, citing convenience as much as security concerns.

Joining Stephens in the majority were Justices Susan Owens, Tom Chambers, Charles  Johnson, Richard Sanders and Chief Justice Gerry Alexander. 

In reversing Jaime’s second-degree conviction, the court remanded the case back to Yakima County for a new trial.

Yakima County may be the only county in Washington state that holds criminal trials in the jail. Officials in the five most populous counties in the state — King, Pierce, Snohomish, Spokane and Clark — said they do not hold jury trials in jails.

For decades, Yakima County has occasionally held trials in two courtrooms located in the basement of the jail. Each has boxes that accommodate juries.

Part of what the Supreme Court weighed in its decision was whether jurors have a different perception of presumed innocence when a criminal trial is held in a jail rather than a courthouse.

"Courthouses are often monuments of public life, adorned with architectural flourishes and historical exhibits that make them inviting to members of the public ...," the court majority said, noting that jails are far more austere and utilitarian. "A juror’s experience with jail is very likely limited to what our societal discourse tell us about jails: they are high-security places that house individuals who need to be in custody."

It’s unclear whether Thursday’s ruling will affect other murder cases involving jury trials that were held in Yakima County’s jail. But local officials are worried about the conviction of Junior Sanchez, one of two defendants in a 2005 double homicide that cost taxpayers more than $2 million in legal fees.

Sanchez’s trial was held in a jail courtroom and he is appealing that conviction, which is also the subject of a lawsuit by the Yakima Herald-Republic seeking access to the billing records in the case.

Yakima County Prosecutor Jim Hagarty said his staff is reviewing Thursday’s decision for a possible appeal. He is aware of the implications it could have on the Sanchez case.

The former federal prosecutor said his office may take the Jaime case to the 9th U.S. Circuit of Appeals and that it’s possible, depending on whether the jail courtroom ruling is a first in the country, that the U.S. Supreme Court may step in for direct review.

"We’re putting everything together to see what we’re going to do," Hagarty said. "It’s all very preliminary at this stage."

He said he thinks the county will retry the Jaime case but added, "I will reserve judgment until a closer review."

Yakima County court administrator Harold Delia was outraged at the thought the Sanchez conviction could be reversed, describing the Jaime decision as a "head scratcher" that seems to fly in the face of common sense.

"The logic of this just escapes me," he said. "Most jurors have a pretty good idea that a defendant in a homicide trial is probably staying in jail, whether he’s wearing shackles or not. It’s the same with a courtroom. This decision is essentially saying jurors don’t have brains."

That was the same point made by Justice James Johnson, who also signed a separate dissent written by Justice Mary Fairhurst and joined by Chief Justice Barbara Madsen.

They agreed that shackles and jail togs are clearly prejudicial to a defendant, but argued that a courtroom is a courtroom regardless of where it’s located.

"The courtroom where Jaime’s trial was held was, in all relevant aspects, comparable or identical to a courtroom in the courthouse," Fairhurst wrote. "The jury was provided with a reasonable explanation for the venue that did not prejudice the defendant, and the trial proceeded without disruption."

Jaime, now 27, was sentenced to 34 years in prison following his conviction for second-degree murder in the fatal shooting of 50-year-old Ignacio Ornelas during a drug deal at a home in Yakima on Dec. 27, 2005.

Jaime, an admitted gang member who grew up in White Swan, claimed he was in Seattle the night of the shooting. He was captured two months after the shooting when he tried to re-enter the United States in a stolen car with fake ID.

In its ruling, the Supreme Court took Gibson to task for "falsely" telling the jury that Jaime was being tried in the jail courtroom because of scheduling and administrative needs. The prosecutor argued that Jaime was a security risk but he wasn’t asked for — and he didn’t present — any facts to back up that argument.

"The relationship between a trial judge and a jury relies on mutual trust, and the making of false statements to a jury by a judge should never be countenanced," Stephens wrote.

Delia defended Gibson, insisting the county’s well publicized efforts to reduce a huge backlog of criminal cases justified the use of a jail courtroom that he described as more comfortable and better acoustically than older courtrooms in the courthouse.

"The main issue was, we had a lot of trials and all the courtrooms (in the courthouse) were full," Delia said.

Gibson, for his part, was wary of getting into a public dispute with the Supreme Court. In a brief interview Thursday, he ruefully noted the nature of the appeal system and said Supreme Court justices "get to do whatever they want to do."

Concluded the judge, "I’m just trying to do my job over here."

• Chris Bristol can be reached at 509-577-7748 or cbristol@yakimaherald.com.

• To read the Supreme Court opinion, go to www.courts.wa.gov/opinions/index.cfm