Robert Eric Parrish v. Larry Small, Warden

Robert Eric Parrish appeals the district court’s denial of his 28 U.S.C. § 2254 habe-as corpus petition. Parrish claims that his constitutional rights were violated when he was improperly shackled throughout his trial for attempted murder and assault with a deadly weapon. In the instant case, Parrish was charged with two counts: attempted murder and assault with a deadly weapon. The jury found Parrish not guilty of attempted murder, but found him guilty on the assault count. In a separate trial, unrelated to these charges, a jury found Parrish guilty of burglary and petty theft with a prior. The state trial judge sentenced Parrish on both matters. He received a sixteen-year sentence on the assault charge and a twenty-five years to life sentence on the theft convictions under the “California Three Strikes Law.” The court ordered the sentences to run consecutively; Parrish is serving forty-one years to life.

We vacate the district court’s decision and remand for an evidentiary hearing to determine the extent to which the shackling of Parrish became visible to the jurors and then whether the shackling was prejudicial.

This court reviews de novo the district court’s denial…