Opinion ID: 1122542
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 8

Heading: Conduct of Trial Judge

Text: Defendant complains that the trial judge's behavior during trial prejudiced him. Late in the case, defendant claimed that the trial judge had looked away from the jury during defendant's opening statement. A second claim is that the trial court was impatient with defense counsel during the defense case. Defendant's claims are based on counsel's subjective impressions. Both parties are entitled to a trial presided over by a fair and impartial judge. State v. Carver, 160 Ariz. 167, 172, 771 P.2d 1382, 1387 (1989). The trial court is presumed to be impartial, and the party alleging bias must prove bias by a preponderance of the evidence. Id. Defendant has placed no evidence in the record of bias by the trial judge. All that is referred to are unsupported assertions by defense counsel during trial, at least one of them long after the alleged fact. There is no substantiation of the claim of judicial misconduct, nor is there any showing of resulting prejudice.