Whether the Court should exercise its authority to issue an original writ of habeas corpus and hold that Mr. Sutton's conviction and death sentence should be vacated because he was visibly shackled and handcuffed during his capital trial and sentencing without a hearing to determine justification

Question Presented In Deck v. Missouri, 544 U.S. 622, 629 (2005), this Court held that “the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments prohibit the use of physical restraints visible to the jury absent a trial court determination, in the exercise of its discretion, that they are justified by a state interest specific to a particular trial.” Accordingly, the question presented in this case is whether this Court should exercise its authority to issue an original writ of habeas corpus and hold that Mr. Sutton’s conviction and death sentence should be vacated because he was visibly shackled and handcuffed during his capital trial and sentencing where there was no hearing to determine whether a specific justification existed for heightened security, alternatives were not explored, and no steps were taken to minimize the prejudicial effect of the restraints.