Judges address trend of dressing down

Bill Gang

Tuesday, Aug. 11, 1998 | 10:57 a.m.

You are about to go before the justice of the peace to plead your case.

If you impress the judge, you may avoid a jail sentence. Tick off the judge and you may end up having sunlight piped to you. Sounds simple enough.

First appearances are important. So what exactly does one wear to court? Maybe some old jeans and a T-shirt with a picture of a marijuana leaf on it? The judge surely will see the humor.

Think again.

Clark County judges throughout the system say the parade of shorts, tank tops and skin-tight disco dresses through their courtrooms has become all too common. They find themselves shaking their heads and pondering, "What the heck were these people thinking?"

There was a time when defendants in criminal cases took some pride in what they wore to court to impress the person who has control over the most precious of commodities -- freedom.

Justice of the Peace Bill Jansen laments the passing of that era.

"I don't think there is the respect for the courts like there used to be," he said. "And dress is an indication of their attitudes toward the law, law enforcement and the justice system."

After a recent hearing, Chief District Judge Myron Leavitt's bailiff Trina Bryant followed a defendant from the courtroom and suggested that next time he might want to wear a different T-shirt.

"The writing is in Japanese," the man meekly offered as a defense.

"I don't think the writing is the issue," Bryant responded, referring to the depiction of a nearly nude woman seductively sprawled across the back of the shirt.

Signs at several locations in the county courthouse warn litigants and defendants that tank tops and shorts aren't acceptable attire. Yet that is often the summer uniform for some who apparently give little consideration to their appearance before heading off to court.

Swapping clothes with friends in courthouse bathrooms to assemble acceptable wardrobes seems to be a daily prelude to court hearings during the summer months.

Some judges will turn away the inappropriately unkempt. Others are more lenient, saying they are just happy to have defendants show up for their hearings.

Justice of the Peace Nancy Oesterle tells of a woman who came to court in a cut-off football shirt showing more than just her bare midriff and wearing cut-off jeans that left little to the imagination. The rows of shackled Clark County Detention Center prisoners leered at the woman and muttered suggestively rude comments throughout the court session.

When chastised by the judge about the inappropriateness of her attire, the woman fumed, argued and refused to consider that courtrooms require a certain decorum.

Oesterle calmly explained to the woman that her choice was simple -- dress appropriately next time, or be put into appropriate dress.

The woman's defiant comments in reply led the judge to conclude that the defendant was choosing the latter, and the next day she was appropriately dressed in jail coveralls, belly chains and shackles. Not seductively trendy, but Oesterle found it acceptable.

"When the judge has your life in his hands, why would you dress like a complete idiot?" Deputy District Attorney Lynn Robinson asked.

Robinson recalled one woman who came to court in a dress "so tight that if she had worn one a full size larger, it still would have been too tight."

District Judge Lee Gates recounted a defendant who showed up for her drug-trafficking trial in a white dress with a florescent pink bikini underneath glowing through the wispy gauze fabric.

She was convicted on all counts.

Drug Court is another matter. District Judge Jack Lehman is very accepting of the casual attire worn by the high percentage of participants whose lives often have revolved around drugs and the streets.

"We're not dealing with average individuals," Lehman said. "I think casual attire is appropriate in the informal setting of Drug Court."

Some who work in Drug Court, however, wish a few of the participants would consider taking showers before their appearances.

The problem isn't confined to defendants and litigants.

District Judge Mark Gibbons, who presides over civil cases, said a lawyer appeared in his courtroom recently in decidedly casual -- and leaning toward flamboyant -- clothing. The attorney apologized and explained that he had forgotten the court date and was headed to a golf course when he got a call from his secretary to change course to the courthouse.

In another courtroom, a lawyer who had undergone foot surgery appeared in new white tennis shoes in contrast to his suit. His choice of footwear was questioned by a prosecutor.

In response, the attorney feigned a befuddled expression and explained that when he went to the store he specifically bought a pair of sneakers in a box labeled "court shoes."