By Christina Hall and Eric D. Lawrence
Detroit Free Press
An AP Member Exchange
CLINTON TOWNSHIP (AP) -- Defense attorney Joseph Kosmala knows how to shop for cheap threads.
But the clothes aren't to make him look good in court -- he buys them so that his clients will.
"I'm getting really good at it," he said of bargain finds at resale shops in Macomb County's Clinton Township, near Detroit. He shops for his court-appointed clients, including convicted murderer Ihab Maslamani. "For $40, he's pretty well-dressed."
The dress clothes for inmates like Maslamani, who had no money or family, provide a jailed, indigent defendant with civilian garb suitable for trial.
There is "a very negative impact to see someone coming in Macomb County blues," Kosmala said.
He isn't the only attorney turned personal shopper. Metro Detroit defense attorneys and judges said they often step in when criminal defendants are destitute and don't have appropriate clothes for trial.
"Every other attorney I know either does this or has done this," said Detroit attorney Margaret Sind Raben, past president of the Criminal Defense Attorneys of Michigan. "We don't particularly like paying for this out of our own money, but what's the alternative? The alternative is for us to force our client to go to his trial in jail clothing," which she said generally is not permitted by court rules.
Legal experts, such as Robert Homant, professor of criminal justice studies at the University of Detroit Mercy, said if a defendant was to appear before a jury in jail garb, he or she would be at a severe disadvantage.
The ideal espoused by the justice system might be the presumption of innocence, but the public has the presumption of guilt when it comes to criminal defendants, said James Samuels, an attorney in Big Rapids and president of the Criminal Defense Attorneys of Michigan.
And seeing a defendant in jail garb reinforces that assumption, he said.
"Impressions mean a lot," Samuels said. "We'd like to think justice is blind, but we're all realistic human beings and know that's not always the case."
Barbara Durecki, 55, of Warren was a juror in Maslamani's trial for the murder of Matthew Landry. She said she expected to see the 18-year-old Flint man in a jail jumpsuit and was surprised to see the killing suspect wearing dress clothes.
"If I saw handcuffs and a jumpsuit from the jail, I'd think it's a scarier sight," she said. "I think the attorneys try to make the jury feel comfortable."
Wayne County Circuit Judge Timothy Kenny keeps several shirts, sweaters and pairs of pants on hand, which he gives to defendants "maybe once or twice a year ... and I don't think that I'm necessarily out of the norm."
"Ultimately, it's our responsibility in the court that the defendant is dressed in civilian clothes," said Kenny, presiding judge of the court's criminal division.
Macomb County Circuit Chief Judge Mark Switalski keeps six of his old cleaned and pressed shirts in his chambers for defendants who come from the jail without a change of clothes.
"They may not fit great, but they're very suitable for clothes," he said. "You certainly can't come in there in a jail outfit. For trial, you don't want the jury to be prejudiced by seeing (the defendant) in jail clothes and chains or any of that business."
Switalski said that he commends lawyers who buy clothes for their clients, who may not even know that their attorney paid for them.
"That's important for the defendants. A lot of them don't have anything," he said.
The Oakland County jail keeps a small amount of men's and women's clothing at the lockup and in a detention office at Oakland County Circuit Court, Oakland County sheriff's Capt. Charles Snarey said.
The clothes often come from inmates who leave them at the jail. Many of the items cannot be sent to prison if the person is convicted, and the inmates often don't care where their belongings go.
Snarey said inmates usually wear jail flip-flops or slip-on shoes, though dress shoes can be worn if the proper size is available.
The Macomb County jail does not keep trial-suitable clothing, but authorities try to accommodate inmate requests by contacting the jail's chaplain program, Macomb County Undersheriff Kent Lagerquist said.
For many female inmates, clothing is just one facet of appearance at trial. Hair and makeup are another.
Female inmates are not allowed hair styling tools or cosmetics. So the women get inventive and use tampons as curlers. Kool-Aid with water becomes blush and lead from pencils is used as eye shadow and eye liner.
Samuels, who maintains a closet with jackets and ties for clients in need, said it is unlikely courts would fund a clothing allowance for a defendant, in part because of tight budgets.
Raben keeps two large storage bins with dress shirts, pants and ties -- clothes from adult sons who left them when they moved. When she buys clothes, she picks neutral colors.
"We live in a world where appearance counts," she said. "There's a reason attorneys wear suits to court."
Published: Thu, Nov 18, 2010
