Police and prison uniforms may be dowplayed at trial
Posted Sep14, 2007 at 04:24 PM
William Morva is considered a high risk prisoner and has appeared in court for pretrial hearings wearing the red New River Valley Regional Jail jumpsuit that such inmates get. Meanwhile, far more uniformed officers were in the courtroom for those hearings than is usual.
But at a trial steps are taken to reduce the likelihood a defendent will simply look guilty or dangerous, for fear of coloring jurors' opinions. Morva wore a suit at his March trial on robbery charges that predate his murder charges. (He got 38 years for those earlier charges, though his lawyer for that trial has filed an appeal.)
For the murder trial, Morva's lawyers successfully argued to ban off-duty law enforcement officers from wearing their uniforms in the courtroom.
-- The Roanoke Times
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