A federal appeals court on Wednesday rejected a hitman’s bid for a new trial, ruling that secret leg shackles hidden beneath a defense table did not violate his constitutional rights. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit affirmed the convictions and concurrent life sentences of Moreion Lindsey, who was found guilty of conspiracy to commit murder for hire and murder for hire in connection with the fatal shooting of Titus Armstead.
The Case
According to court documents, the chain of events began when Ray Bradley, a member of a drug-trafficking organization, tasked his nephew, Armstead, with managing a New Jersey stash house used for storing illicit drugs and cash. When Armstead later reported that the stash house had been robbed of millions of dollars in cash and cocaine, Bradley suspected the incident was an inside job orchestrated by his nephew.
Bradley then sought out Jerome Williams to arrange Armstead’s death, and Williams recruited Lindsey, paying him $15,000 to carry out the contract killing. Bradley arranged for Armstead to travel to St. Louis, Missouri. Upon his arrival, Lindsey picked Armstead up, drove him to a local park, and shot him to death.
The Appeal
On appeal, Lindsey argued that his conviction should be overturned because U.S. District Judge Matthew T. Schelp placed him in leg restraints during the trial without making a sufficiently detailed record to justify the security measure. The dispute over the restraints began before the trial, with the government filing a motion requesting that the court impose leg restraints on Lindsey due to specific safety concerns.
The appellate court emphasized that the district court took active measures to prevent prejudice by using table skirts to block the shackles from view. Lindsey’s defense conceded there was no evidence demonstrating that the jury ever saw or became aware of the restraints. Furthermore, the court ruled that the trial judge provided adequate justification by highlighting Lindsey’s specific pending charges and violent history.
The Eighth Circuit concluded that even if a constitutional error had occurred, the independent evidence of Lindsey’s guilt was overwhelming. This evidence included license plate reader data, cell phone records tracking Lindsey to the airport and the murder scene, and the digital photograph of the victim’s body recovered from the phone.
Original reporting: Tampa Free Press — read the source article.
