BANGOR, Maine (AP) A Maine judge says a Black man who’s going on trial for murder must wear a mask even though he thinks it could prejudice jurors against him.
Carine Reeves, of New York, contended that a mask would subject him to racial profiling and stereotyping by jurors who associate masks with criminals.
Justice Harold Stewart II said jurors will understand why Reeves and all others in the courtroom are wearing masks.
He also wrote that Reeves could be subjected to “undue attention” if he were the only one without a mask in the courtroom.
Reeves is charged in a 2017 killing in which the victim was shot in the head and left on a roadside in eastern Maine.
