Opinion ID: 2975644
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Judicial Intervention

Text: Defendant next argues that the district court erred when it repeatedly interjected during defense counsel’s cross-examinations. The Government responds that the district court did not abuse its discretion “by attempting to keep counsel for the parties focused on” relevant issues. Although Defendant does not make this explicit distinction in his brief, the case law he cites makes it clear that he asserts two separate legal arguments: (1) the district court deprived him of his right to a fair trial by repeatedly interrupting defense counsel’s cross-examination of government witnesses; and (2) the district court exhibited impermissible bias in his treatment of defense counsel.
As discussed above, we have not yet decided the appropriate standard of review—abuse of discretion or plain error—governing instances in which a defendant did not object to the district court’s conduct at trial but posits, on appeal, that to have done so would have subjected him to additional judicial hostility. It is unnecessary, however, for us to do so in this case. As in United States v. Hynes, 467 F.3d 951 (6th Cir. 2006), a case very similar to this action, including the same presiding district court judge, a review of the entire record shows that although the district court came dangerously close to tainting the fairness of Defendant’s trial, regardless of the standard of review employed, the Court did not commit reversible error when it interrupted the proceedings to object sua sponte or to expedite the trial process. A trial court judge is “more than a mere arbitrator to rule on objections and instruct the jury.” United States v. Hickman, 592 F.2d 931, 933 (6th Cir. 1979). He may interject himself into the trial, speak to counsel, and question witnesses in order to clear up confusion regarding the evidence or aid in its orderly presentation. McMillan v. Castro, 405 F.3d 405, 410 (6th Cir. 2005). Accordingly, we must examine whether the district court’s conduct fell so “demonstrably outside” the acceptable range of judicial behavior such that it amounted to “hostility or bias” toward Defendant. Id. In Hickman, one of the few cases to find reversible error due to the conduct of a trial court, we set forth three factors that appellate courts should examine when determining whether a district court exceeded its authority by interjecting during trial: (1) whether the trial is “lengthy” or “complex,” such that the court’s intervention might help clarify issues and facts for the jury; (2) whether counsel are “unprepared or obstreperous” such that the facts become muddled and the district court needs to clarify the issues for the jury; and (3) whether a witness becomes inadvertently confused or is difficult to deal with such that judicial intervention may add increased efficiency to the trial process. Hickman, 592 F.2d at 933. In addition, one of the most crucial parts of our inquiry is the manner in which the district court chose to interject itself; it is important that the district court act with a neutral, unbiased demeanor when addressing counsel and witnesses. Id. The trial court should not continuously intervene on the side of only one of the parties. Id. at 934. Although the court’s conduct during trial was less than ideal, an examination of the entire record indicates that the court did not exhibit any partiality constituting reversible error. Although No. 06-1684 United States v. Powers Page 10 this case was neither lengthy nor complex, nor did the witnesses display any confusion or difficulty, the record reflects that counsel often asked repetitive and irrelevant questions. Most of the court’s comments can be construed as attempts to keep the parties focused on the issues related specifically to the crime charged and to prevent counsel from asking repetitive questions. Of the district court’s twenty-six comments to which Defendant objects, most take the following forms: (1) “not helping the jury;” (2) “move on to something else;” or (3) “please don’t repeat your questions over and over.” One of the main thrusts of defense counsel’s cross-examinations involved the number and timing of the telephone calls between the SOI and Defendant. After giving defense counsel ample leeway to explore these areas of inquiry, the district court curtailed counsel’s opportunity to delve further into the exact timing and number of these calls because counsel’s questions were repetitive and, at best, only tangentially relevant to the crime charged. For example, the trial court responded to defense counsel’s continued questioning regarding the number of phone calls exchanged between the SOI and Defendant by stating: That’s his testimony. Come on, don’t – let’s not question him on six. All of the other testimony has said there’s six. The only problem I have is that you said by the SOI, and I sort of had the impression there was testimony that some of them were made by somebody else to him, but there were – there’s no question, so far that I can imagine, about whether the numbers was 6 or 25 and let’s not waste time on that. (J.A. 264-65.) Although Defendant characterizes this statement as an act of hostility toward defense counsel, as well as an example of judicial overreaching, he neglects to mention that the district court’s comments occurred immediately following defense counsel’s decision repeatedly to ask Officer Cochran how many phone calls the SOI exchanged with Defendant.6 Although we find it troubling that the district court appears to have commented on the credibility of a witness, we recognize that the court was within its discretion to move defense counsel along from a repetitive and irrelevant line of questioning. Although the trial court’s behavior was not a model of decorum given that it commented on witnesses’ testimony and took an arguably hostile tone toward counsel, the record does not reflect that the court was biased against Defendant. In Hickman, we reversed a defendant’s conviction because the trial court took an anti-defendant tone, interrupted defense witnesses, re-directed witnesses on behalf of the prosecution, rarely ruled on the objections of counsel, and cut-off defense counsel during his closing argument. Id. at 934-35. In this case, the district court did not engage in this sort of behavior. It did not conduct extensive examinations of witnesses. It did not foreclose 6 Q: During the investigation, how many phone calls were made by the SOI, please? A: Six, sir. Q: Exactly six; is that correct? A: Yes, sir, I believe it is. Q: I’m sorry? A: Yes, sir, I do believe it is six. Q: Well, Officer – (J.A. 264.) No. 06-1684 United States v. Powers Page 11 avenues of cross examination that had not already been explored. It timely ruled on the objections of counsel. Although the court frequently interjected with what the record suggests was an exasperated tone, the nature and scope of the court’s comments were quite narrow; the court cautioned the parties to move on from irrelevant areas of inquiry, refused to allow counsel to ask duplicative questions, and sought out stipulations of undisputed facts. Although the court told defense counsel that counsel had only three minutes remaining in his closing argument, defense counsel had already exceeded the time that the Government used in its closing. In addition, the district court’s decision to threaten defense counsel with sanctions, which should have been made out of earshot of the jury, was made only after defense counsel’s repeated failure to cease asking repetitive questions. In addition, although the number of times the court interjected should be taken into account, the sheer volume of interjections in this case is not enough to constitute reversible error. See, e.g., United States v. Tilton, 714 F.2d 642, 644 (6th Cir. 1983) (finding no evidence of judicial error even though district court interrupted defense counsel nearly thirty times); United States v. Smith, 561 F.2d 8 (6th Cir. 1977) (holding that it was not reversible error for the trial court to pose more than two-hundred fifty questions to witnesses). More importantly, the district court displayed equal impatience with both counsel. It frequently made similar comments to the Government such as: (1)“I don’t understand why we’re spending so much time introducing evidence . . . I don’t know that we have to spend a lot of time with it, unless you’ve got something that I don’t understand . . . .” (J.A. 173-74); (2) “This, Mr. Gilmer-Hill, is going too slowly. It’s got to move.” (J.A. 181); and (3) “Go onto something else.” (J.A. 234); see also (J.A. 256-63.). The conduct to which Defendant objects falls within the range of “acceptable, though not necessarily model, judicial behavior.” McMillan, 405 F.3d at 410. The district court’s conduct, although not exemplary, “did not short-circuit the defense strategy or evince favoritism toward the government.” Hynes, 467 F.3d at 959. As in Hynes, “the record shows that the district court limited cross-examination solely to avoid ‘confusion of the issues . . . or interrogation that is repetitive or only marginally relevant.’ Those limitations were reasonable and fall well within the ‘wide latitude’ that trial courts are to be accorded.” Id. at 960 (quoting United States v. Van Arshall, 475 U.S. 673, 679 (1986)). Despite the judicial intervention in this case, Defendant was able to elicit from witnesses the information that he sought and to present his theory of the case to the jury in a coherent fashion. See Hynes, 467 F.3d at 960 (citing United States v. Gray, 105 F.3d 956, 964-65 (5th Cir. 1997) (finding no reversible error where the district court’s interventions “sometimes broke the flow of the defense presentation,” but “[t]he relevant facts were brought to the jury’s attention, and the defendants’ counsel were able to interpret the facts favorably to their clients during closing argument”)). Thus, Defendant’s argument that the district court abused its discretion when it interjected during trial is without merit. 2. Judicial Bias/Hostility Toward Defense Counsel Defendant also asserts that the aforementioned judicial conduct and treatment of defense counsel demonstrates impermissible judicial bias against him. None of the district court’s comments constitutes judicial bias. The Supreme Court has stated that “expressions of impatience, dissatisfaction, annoyance, and even anger” do not rise to the level of judicial bias. Liteky v. United States, 510 U.S. 540, 555-56 (1994). Defendant repeatedly cites one particular incident in which the district court commented to defense counsel that, “all lawyers are terrible liars.” (J.A. 227.) The entire exchange went as follows: No. 06-1684 United States v. Powers Page 12 Mr. Barnett (defense counsel): I have no further questions, your Honor. Thank you very much. Well, I do have one. Yes, I’m a lawyer. I’ve got one. I got one question. The Court: Not Mr. Barnett, because I did it too when I practiced law, lawyers are terrible liars. They tell you one question and five minutes later they’re going to their tenth question, but make it one, Mr. Barnett. (J.A. 227-28.) Viewing this exchange in its entirety, it is clear that the trial court was not attempting to denigrate defense counsel. Rather, he was commenting on all lawyers’ habits, including his own, to ask multiple questions after stating that they will ask only one. After this exchange, defense counsel asked the witness two questions. The case of United States v. Tipton, 11 F.3d 602 (6th Cir. 1993), is directly on point. In Tipton, the district court made ten inappropriate comments, including a remark that we characterized as a putdown of defense counsel. Id. at 611. Although we concluded that the district court’s comments were “inappropriate” and “undermined defense counsel’s credibility to some small degree,” we held that these comments did not constitute reversible error. Id. at 612-13. In this case, as discussed above, the district court’s comments were designed to expedite the trial, and while illadvised, they were directed at both defense and government counsel in near equal measure. The trial court did not undermine defense counsel’s credibility or hamper Defendant’s defense in any material way. Finally, as a measure against the possible prejudice of his comments, the trial court gave instructions to the jury that his comments from the bench regarding the presentation of the evidence should not impact their decision as to Defendant’s guilt or innocence. See McMillan, 405 F.3d at 410; see also United States v. Johnson, 182 F. App’x 423, 434 (6th Cir. 2006) (holding that whatever negative impact the trial court’s conduct may have had on the jury was “mitigated by several jury instructions informing them that any comments made by the district court should not influence their determination of guilt or innocence”).