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Street Clothes Rather than Jail Garb — No Right to Appear in

State v. Cornelius R. Reed, 2002 WI App 209, PFR filed 7/16/02
For Reed: Stephanie G. Rapkin
Issue/Holding: The trial court has discretion to deny a defense request that a witness be allowed to testify in street rather than jail clothes. That discretion was properly exercised here: allowing the witnesses to change in bullpens would have created a security risk, ¶8; in contradistinction to a defendant, a witness has no presumption of innocence that risks impairment, ¶9; jail attire informs a jury of something they are already permitted to know, that the witness has been convicted of a crime, ¶¶10-11.

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