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Do perp walks violate defendants' rights?

Charged, and a part of the familiar stage play

By Tom Infield

Inquirer Staff Writer

It's a familiar stage play on the 6 o'clock news. A defendant in handcuffs. A scrum of reporters reaching out with microphones. The thrrp-thrrp of cameras. The whole scene bathed in white TV light.

Yesterday, it was John M. Perzel's turn to endure the "perp walk."

For as long as anyone can remember, cameras have been waiting at the courthouse door for the politician or celebrity who gets himself in trouble. There are images of Prohibition-era gangsters in fedoras waltzing on the arms of cops.

But in this age of instant and pervasive media, the routine has become ever more humiliating - and, in the view of defense attorneys, ever more damaging to the presumption of innocence.

Perzel, 59, once among the most powerful figures in Harrisburg, joined the likes of bank robbers, bad-girl Hollywood starlets, and Wall Street scoundrels by being paraded in front of the news media on the way to his arraignment.

Lawyers for Perzel and some of the nine other defendants who surrendered yesterday in the Bonusgate prosecution said the handcuffs, especially, were meant to tar their clients.

"Totally unnecessary," said Brian McMonagle, representing Perzel. "None of these men were flight risks. Every one of these men was prepared to go to the district justice today."

Joshua Lock, lawyer for former State Rep. Brett Feese, called it "medieval cruelty." Lock said the state was using "arrest procedures last seen during the French Revolution."

Kevin Harley, spokesman for state Attorney General Tom Corbett, defended the procedure.

Instead of being arrested at their homes or offices, he said, defendants were "given the courtesy of surrendering themselves" at the Lower Paxton Township Police Department near Harrisburg.

This was the morning after Corbett held a televised news conference to announce charges against the 10 Republicans in connection with the alleged use of $10 million in tax dollars for political purposes, mostly to assemble voter data bases.

The defendants were fingerprinted and photographed at the police station, then handcuffed, then placed in cars, then driven to the courtroom of District Judge William Wenner in Linglestown.

It was there that they ran into a waiting host of news people.

In a blue suit and red tie, Perzel walked a bit awkwardly with his hands in front of him, held closely together by steel rings. Though he looked mortified, the legendarily tough political figure kept his composure.

"This thing has been going on for quite some time," he said of the investigation as he walked. "There's hundreds of allegations that have been made. I'm looking for an opportunity to prove I'm innocent in court."

Harley said handcuffs are standard procedure for prisoners being transported by agents of the Attorney General's Office.

"We treated these defendants as we would treat any other defendant, including drug dealers," he said. "They do not get any special treatment because they are politicians."

A lawyer not involved in the case said he, too, doubted the need to handcuff prisoners who voluntarily surrender and aren't charged with violence. "It's outrageous, and the attorney general knows it," said Dennis J. Cogan, lead attorney for former State Sen. Vincent J. Fumo, now serving 55 months in jail on corruption charges.

Cogan said Corbett, a Republican candidate for governor, needed to answer, "What was the concern - that the person was going to escape after he surrendered? Do you think he was dangerous? ... It was silly, and it was mean-spirited."

Fumo, as a defendant in Philadelphia federal court, was not seen in handcuffs when he was arrested. His processing and appearance before a judge were all in the same building.

Federal courts have ruled that "perp walks" - a recent shorthand made popular on TV and in movies - are permitted under the Bill of Rights if they are done for legitimate police purposes.

They can't be done just to shame defendants, one court ruled. In 2000, the Second U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals took up a case from New York in which a doorman had been videotaped rifling through tenants' possessions.

A Fox station asked police to walk the doorman to a car after he was arrested, so it could get footage of him. The police did so. They drove the man around the block and took him back inside.

This violated the Fourth Amendment's protections against unreasonable search and seizure, the court said.

Temple University law professor Edward Ohlbaum said the Perzel "perp walk" seemed to meet court requirements. But he said such pretrial publicity can make it more difficult for defense lawyers to find unbiased jurors when a case comes to trial.

It didn't help, Ohlbaum said, that Corbett gave his version of the grand jury's findings in a televised news conference on Thursday.

"I suppose one could make the argument that in certain circumstances, it advantages the prosecution, because it begins to taint or pollute a potential jury pool," he said.

Andy Hoover of the Pennsylvania American Civil Liberties Union commented: "Certainly defendants are innocent until proven guilty; in this media age, it is increasingly difficult for us to maintain that presumption."

Contact staff writer Tom Infield at 610-313-8205 or tinfield@phillynews.com.

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Comments

Posted 12:19 PM, 11/14/2009

ryno5

"Perp Walks" have been going on since the beginning of time for crying out loud. You don't want to end up on the front page of the paper, trying to cover your face with your jacket??? THEN DON'T COMMIT CRIMES!!!!! Seems pretty simple to me.

Posted 12:24 PM, 11/14/2009

meghanleigh

wah. i stole $10m in taxpayer money and now i'm humiliated to be seen as the common criminal i am... wah.

Posted 12:44 PM, 11/14/2009

Bobby257

I am no fan of John Perzel, but the two comments ahead of this one seem to bear out the concern expressed for the damage done by pre-trail publicity to the presumption of innocence.

Posted 01:03 PM, 11/14/2009

JonKap

Perp walks WRONG until AFTER the conviction. This seems like total common sense. Until the person is convicted, they are innocent. I would like to see anyone who says otherwise be accused of molestation by their neighbor's kid who is mad at them for some reason. How about a perp walk then?? Oh...maybe you would like your day in court first? Thought so.

Posted 01:55 PM, 11/14/2009

front&ashdale

Would the media be as concerned with the "perps" rights if the police barred cameras and reporters from areas where they could photograph and video the defendant. They would be crying the blues about freedom of the press. How hypocritical. If the media is so concerned about this issue then all the media has to do is stay away.

Posted 02:57 PM, 11/14/2009

ryno5

Hey JonKap, who get's perp walks? Either celebs or people who are accused of crimes sooooo heinous that their association with that crime makes them famous (ex. Amy Fisher). Perzel is a celebrity by way of the job he holds, therefore he doesn't enjoy full protection of slander under the laws of PA. No one forced him to run for office. When you are going to start your crusade against all tabloids, let me know, I'll bring the plaquards.

Posted 03:03 PM, 11/14/2009

ConverseB24

It's unfair before the trial, unfortunately innocent before proven guilty doesn't always hold up in public opinion. Plus many people lose their jobs from the bad publicity alone, and the shackled image of the person on trial is something that is difficult to come back from even if proven innocent. It also opens the suspect up for violence, which prevents a trial and even if guilty the whole story does not get out (we still wonder about JFK since Oswald was killed). The media can still write stories and print file phots but the perp walk is something that should be left back in the 1930s.

Posted 03:30 PM, 11/14/2009

PuPuMan

Rich white guy gets a perp walk and all of a sudden people are offended. Sad.

Posted 04:54 PM, 11/14/2009

gordonminor

Prosecutors are little kings. They have far too much power and far too much discretion, which they routinely abuse. Unfortunately, so many of them seem to end up as judges or successful politicians.

Posted 05:52 PM, 11/14/2009

jacksplat

Our corrupt politicians suddenly don't like the Perp Walk. Wah, Wah, wah. To bad. They should have passed a bill outlawing it, BEFORE they got caught.

Posted 11:26 AM, 11/15/2009

Emacee1701

Not that simple. The cops in their rush to nail somebody - anybody - may have the wrong guy. And they will do anything they can to win their case, regardless of who really is guilty. And this is all done with a complicet media.

Posted 12:31 PM, 11/15/2009

MikeP

Al suspects of felonies should be treated the same. They should send the police out and arrest all of them. I'm against censoring the press in any way. I'm also against law enforcement notifying the press of an impending arrest or staging a perp walk.