Willocks v. State

OPINION

DAUGHTREY, Judge.

The defendant, Henry Willocks, was convicted of concealing stolen property over the value of $100.00 and was sentenced by a Blount County jury to not less than three nor more than five years in prison. On appeal he raises eight assignments of error, all of which relate to a single issue presented for our determination: Whether it was reversible error to force this defendant to trial in shackles. We conclude that it was and that the defendant is entitled to be retried in an unfettered condition.

We begin our examination of controlling law by observing that the concept of…