Opinion ID: 511568
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: the grapes of wrath

Text: 11 A. What Transpired. Defendant's next point stems from an incident which occurred during his direct examination. In a nonresponsive aside, Polito boldly referred to some aborted plea negotiations. The reference was plainly an improper one. See Fed.R.Evid. 410(4) (outlining inadmissibility of evidence anent unsuccessful plea discussions). The prosecutor objected. The judge struck the unsavory testimony, instructed the jury to disregard it, summoned counsel to sidebar, and directed the following remarks to the defense lawyer: 12 So you will know, Mr. [Lawyer], I intend, regardless of the outcome, to report that last bit of testimony to the New Hampshire Bar Association as a violation of the rules of professional conduct. I want you to know. You knew damn well about [the offensive testimony]. That's improper. You can take it up with the bar, but you make damn sure [Polito] doesn't do that again. 13 2 T. at 129-30. 14 The court then recessed so that the defendant and his attorney could confer. When the trial resumed--and before the jury was returned to the courtroom--defendant sought a mistrial, claiming that he could not get a fair trial, the judge being so angry. Id. at 130. The motion was denied. 15 The following day, the matter was resurrected. Defense counsel raised the possibility that, although the colloquy occurred at sidebar, the jury might have overheard it. A voir dire was requested. The court declined the request but indicated that it would instead address the jury. The lawyer remonstrated no further, but merely responded, Thank you. The court then proceeded to give a strong prophylactic instruction. 16 It has been brought to my attention that perhaps some of you may have overheard a conversation between myself and defendant's counsel at the side bar yesterday. You have to disregard this. He satisfactorily explained to me it was his client not himself that engaged in an outburst, which is not to be held against the defendant or his attorney in any regard. Anything I have stated or done at side bar is not to concern you. 17 3 T. at 4. Counsel neither objected to this instruction nor renewed the earlier mistrial motion. 18 There followed the attorneys' summations and the court's charge. During the charge, the judge again adverted to the incident at sidebar: 19 Nothing that I may have said or done in the course of trial nor that I say in the course of these instructions is to be taken as an indication that I hold any opinion about the facts of the case or how the case should be decided. It is not my function to determine the facts but rather yours alone as jurors. 20 In like fashion, there have been objections and rulings and side bar conferences throughout the course of trial with respect to the offers of evidence. If you overheard any such conversations at side bar, disregard them. In sum, I have found neither or none of the parties to have acted improperly or unprofessionally in the conduct of this trial. 21 And you are not to attempt to speculate on the basis of any conferences or rulings as to how I think this case should be decided, for it is the sworn duty of the lawyers to interpose objections on behalf of their respective clients and my sworn duty as judge to rule on such objections, applying the law as I see it. 22 3 T. at 29-30. At the end of the charge, defense counsel objected to the quoted instruction as prejudicial and renewed the mistrial motion. He received no satisfaction. 23 B. Discussion. Although defendant has voiced a string of complaints about the rebuke and the events which followed, we can treat the matter as a unitary whole. It is conceded that defendant's outburst was unresponsive to the pending question and unfit for jury consumption. The situation demanded that the judge intervene. We assess the mode and manner of his intervention according to a standard of fairness and impartiality, Nordmann v. National Hotel Co., 425 F.2d 1103, 1109 (5th Cir.1970); see also United States v. Pisani, 773 F.2d 397, 402 (2d Cir.1985); United States v. Harris, 720 F.2d 1259, 1262 (11th Cir.1983), recognizing that each case tends to be fact-specific. 24 A judge is not a mere umpire: he is the governor of the trial for the purpose of assuring its proper conduct. Quercia v. United States, 289 U.S. 466, 469, 53 S.Ct. 698, 698, 77 L.Ed. 1321 (1933); see also United States v. McDonald, 576 F.2d 1350, 1358 (9th Cir.) (similar; citing Quercia ), cert. denied, 439 U.S. 830, 99 S.Ct. 105, 58 L.Ed.2d 124 (1978). The task is taxing--a difficult and weighty one. In the oversight of its due performance, appellate courts must grant the presider some margin of humanity. Though we expect a trial judge to be sensitive to the judicial role and to exercise restraint in the face of admitted provocation, we have no right to anticipate that he will function as some bloodless automaton. Charges of partiality should be judged not on an isolated comment or two, but on the record as a whole. See United States v. Twomey, 806 F.2d 1136, 1140 (1st Cir.1986); see also United States v. Welch, 745 F.2d 614, 621 (10th Cir.1984), cert. denied, 470 U.S. 1006, 105 S.Ct. 1364, 84 L.Ed.2d 384 (1985); United States v. Billups, 692 F.2d 320, 327 (4th Cir.1982), cert. denied, 464 U.S. 820, 104 S.Ct. 84, 78 L.Ed.2d 93 (1983). In the last analysis, litigants are entitled to a fair trial, but not necessarily a perfect or a monochromatic one. 25 In the instant case, the fact that the judge displayed some ire at sidebar, though not to be encouraged, did not deprive defendant of a fair trial. Given the circumstances--especially the egregious nature of the witness's effusion--some admonishment was plainly in order. Although not picture perfect, the nature and manner of the judge's response--viewed in the context of the trial as a whole--did not jeopardize Polito's chances or compromise his substantial rights. The initial mistrial motion was appropriately denied. 26 Appellant fares no better when we consider the court's refusal to conduct a voir dire inquiry. On this record, whether or not the jury overheard what was said at sidebar is of no consequence. If we assume that the jurors heard every syllable of every word, the sockdolager is simply this: the strong, firm, and twice-repeated prophylactic instructions were adequate to dispel any possible damage. 4 27 In sum, we find that the fairness of the trial was not compromised by the rulings which trailed in the wake of Polito's volunteered injection of the failed plea bargain into the trial. The rebuke to counsel at sidebar, even if overheard, was completely palliated by ensuing events. The only aspersion on the defendant--the court's explanatory statement to the jury that it was [the] client not [the defense lawyer] that engaged in an outburst, see supra at 417 drew no contemporaneous objection. Waiver aside, the court's instructions eradicated any conceivable untoward effect.