Colorado Court Rejects Convicted Murderer's Appeal

GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. (AP) -- The Colorado Court of Appeals has ruled that letting a jury see video of the defendant in prison clothes does not violate the defendant's constitutional rights. The Daily Sentinel reports that the ruling Thursday came in the case of 46-year-old Douglas Thames, who was convicted in 2015 of the 1994 sexual assault and killing of a Palisade woman.

Attorneys for Thames argued that Mesa County District Judge Dick Gurley violated Thames' constitutional rights by allowing the jury to see a video interview with Thames wearing prison garb.

However, the three-judge appeals court panel determined that video showing an unrestrained defendant in prison garb doesn't create "prejudicial, continuing influence in jurors' minds."

Thames is serving a life sentence without the possibly of parole in the murder of Jacie Taylor.

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