We do not believe that trial judges can use stun belts to enforce decorum,” Justice Yvonne Rodriguez wrote in the court’s opinion. “While the trial court’s frustration with an obstreperous defendant is understandable, the judge’s disproportionate response is not. He appealed his conviction and alleged that Gallagher violated his constitutional rights by repeatedly ordering stuns for failing to answer questions while Morris showed no signs of becoming violent or being a flight risk. Morris pleaded guilty to possession of child pornography when he was again indicted in October 2019.Īfter the stun orders, Morris did not attend the remainder of his trial. The appeals court overturned the conviction. In the Morris case, the Eighth Court of Appeals found that Gallagher used the ordered jolts as a punitive measure after Morris failed to answer the judge’s questions as he expected. Stun belts at the legs of defendants are at times used when a defendant is violent or attempts to escape a courtroom.
19 to issue to Gallagher a public warning “for engaging in willful conduct that cast public discredit upon the judiciary and the administration of justice in violation” of the Texas constitution.
