Opinion ID: 1383224
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Failure to move for a change of judge

Text: Ferguson claims that counsel was ineffective for failing to move for a change of judge based on the trial judge's alleged bias toward criminal defendants. The basis for this claim is that the trial judge received a below average rating on impartiality in a 1992 Missouri Bar Judiciary Evaluation survey and that trial counsel was aware that other public defenders were challenging the judge's impartiality in State v. Smulls, 935 S.W.2d 9 (Mo. banc 1996), cert. denied, 520 U.S. 1254, 117 S.Ct. 2415, 138 L.Ed.2d 180 (1997). This Court agrees with the motion court's finding that neither the 1992 survey nor the fact that the public defender's office had previously questioned and litigated the trial judge's impartiality on various grounds constitute facts that would lead a reasonable person to conclude that the trial judge was biased against Ferguson. A general survey does not necessarily indicate that a judge has prejudged issues in a particular case. Furthermore, the public defenders in Smulls challenged the trial judge's impartiality by alleging that he was biased against women and African-Americans, not that he was biased against white males like Ferguson.