Judge uses electric shock on defendant 3 times, Texas court throws out conviction

Ashley May | USA TODAY

A Texas judge had a defendant electrically shocked three times during trial for not following courtroom etiquette.

Judge George Gallagher of Tarrant County ordered a bailiff to use a stun belt, legally used to deliver thousands of volts of electric shock on violent or escaping defendants in Texas, on a sex offender who failed to answer questions properly, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports.

During the 2014 trial, defendant Terry Lee Morris wasn't violent and didn't show signs of running away, the Star-Telegram reports, but still endured 50,000-volt shocks. He was convicted of soliciting sexual acts from a 15-year-old girl.

Morris appealed the conviction, and the Texas Eight Court of Appeals in El Paso took his side, ruling judges cannot shock defendants who won't answer questions because it violates constitutional rights, Texas Lawyer reported.

“While the trial court’s frustration with an obstreperous defendant is understandable, the judge’s disproportionate response is not. We do not believe that trial judges can use stun belts to enforce decorum,” Justice Yvonne T. Rodriguez said in the court’s opinion obtained by The Washington Post. “A stun belt is a device meant to ensure physical safety; it is not an operant conditioning collar meant to punish a defendant until he obeys a judge’s whim.”

Judge Gallagher did not immediately comment on the ruling.

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