Opinion ID: 554963
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Aura Of Prejudice

Text: 17 Gabay seeks reversal because he claims his trial was conducted in an aura of prejudice. The trial lasted a little more than two weeks and consisted of seventeen volumes of trial record, yet Gabay can point to only one specific comment from the trial court which he says unduly prejudiced him. 4 18 This court held in United States v. Sorondo, 845 F.2d 945, 949 (11th Cir.1988), and United States v. Cox, 664 F.2d 257, 259 (11th Cir.1981), that the trial court cannot interject his or her opinion because a jury has an obligation to 'exercise its untrammeled judgment upon the worth and weight of testimony,' and to 'bring in its verdict and not someone else's.'  Sorondo, 845 F.2d at 949, (quoting, United States v. Johnson, 319 U.S. 503, 519, 63 S.Ct. 1233, 1241, 87 L.Ed. 1546 (1943)). No opinion was expressed in this case by the trial court regarding any piece of evidence, nor was any comment made by the court about the testimony of any witness. There is nothing in the court's comments from which a jury could substitute the court's opinion for that of the jury's. 19 A trial court has broad discretion in handling a trial and an appellate court will not intervene absent a clear showing of abuse. United States v. Gomez-Rojas, 507 F.2d 1213, 1223 (5th Cir.), cert. denied, 423 U.S. 826, 96 S.Ct. 41, 46 L.Ed.2d 42 (1975). We think it is clear from a review of the record in this case that there was nothing in the trial court's comments that was so obtrusive or prejudicial that it denied Gabay a fair trial.