Murder defendant refuses judge's order to wear Stun-Cuff at trial, misses opening statements
Image of a Stun-Cuff from Myers Enterprises, Inc.
A Maryland judge decided to require a murder defendant to wear an ankle bracelet that can transmit an electric shock at trial after he threatened her, the judge said, by screaming her first name and trying to enter her chambers Tuesday before bailiffs restrained him.
But later in the day, 35-year-old Jeffrey Matthew Shiflett refused to wear a Stun-Cuff in the courtroom. So he missed the opening statements at his own trial, the Baltimore Sun reports.
Attorney James A. Sorensen is defending Shiflett. He argued unsuccessfully that his client needs a competency exam.
“Agitated does not make you incompetent,” contended Sorensen’s trial opponent, Baltimore County State’s Attorney Scott Shellenberger. He argued that Shiflett’s remarks, although disruptive, were clearly relevant to court proceedings.
Sorensen also expressed concern that Shiflett could be shocked simply for verbally disrupting the trial.
“It would only be utilized if he becomes violent or starts acting out,” responded Circuit Court Judge Ruth Ann Jakubowski. A courtroom attack on an attorney, for example, would be an appropriate basis to activate the device, she suggested.
Shiflett is accused of stabbing to death last year a 33-year-old pregnant woman with whom he had once had a brief relationship years earlier. Katie Hadel had married another man and repeatedly sought protective orders against Shiflett in Baltimore County. Shiflett violated his parole in a robbery case when he made hostile phone calls to Hadel after his release from prison in December 2012, the Baltimore Sun reported in 2013. Police were seeking him for the parole violation when Hadel was killed.
The victim’s mother, Robin Hadel, told the newspaper the defendant’s behavior had been going on for years. “When he was in jail, he did nothing but send her letters and send me letters and threaten her from jail and threaten me from jail,” said the mother. She contended the justice system failed Katie Hadel because police had not picked Shiflett up earlier and because, despite Shiflett’s threats, “the only thing they could tell us was to move.”
Police checked Robin Hadel’s home—where they believed Katie Hadel was staying because they had told her not to stay at her own apartment—several times on the day Katie Hadel was killed. They had offered to help Katie Hadel relocate and said there was only so much they could do, the Sun reports.
Shellenberger had successfully argued to keep Shiflett in prison as long as the law allowed, citing threats to Katie Hadel and a prosecutor. However, parole had become mandatory by the time Shiflett was released.
See also:
ABAJournal.com: “Judge who ordered deputy to shock ‘rude’ pro se defendant has been taken off bench”
