Judge Plans to Bar Sheriff’s Use of Stun Belts in Court

A federal judge indicated Monday that he intends to bar the Sheriff’s Department from making potentially unruly criminal defendants wear stun belts in court.

The belts, which are worn under clothing, can be activated by remote control, delivering 50,000 volts of low-amperage electricity.

U.S. District Judge Dean Pregerson also indicated that he plans to award class-action status to a civil rights lawsuit by one such defendant.

Ronnie Hawkins, a three-strikes defendant accused of stealing $265 worth of over-the-counter pain killers, filed the suit after being zapped with electricity during a confrontation with Long Beach Municipal Judge Joan Comparet-Cassani.

The California Commission on Judicial Performance, which has authority to discipline judges, is investigating the incident and the Sheriff’s Department is reviewing its policy on the use of the belts.

Hawkins’ attorneys were in court Monday seeking a preliminary injunction against the use of the belt, pending the outcome of a trial.

After circulating a draft of his tentative ruling among attorneys in the case, the judge heard arguments from both sides, reserving his sharpest questions for county attorney Kevin Brazile.

Brazile said courts should be allowed to activate the belt when someone is disruptive or obnoxious, but Pregerson pressed him to define the terms.

Several times the judge said that a stun belt might have a “chilling effect” on a criminal defendant when he or she addressed the court

“Are we prepared to tell people in courtrooms, ‘Don’t say anything?’ ” he asked Brazile.

Joseph Reichmann, a former federal magistrate who is representing Hawkins, said there are humane methods of controlling a defendant who becomes unruly.

“He can be removed from the courtroom. He can be bound and gagged. But you can’t do what the judge did. You can’t inflict pain,” Reichmann said.

Hawkins, meanwhile, had his theft conviction reversed after the incident.