Opinion ID: 1863013
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Claim II. Disqualification of Judge Bentley

Text: Johnson's second claim is that the circuit court erred in denying his motion to disqualify Judge Bentley. This issue relates to Johnson's third claim: that the State withheld material and exculpatory evidence from Johnson in the form of an undisclosed agreement it had with a jail-house informant, James Leon Smith, who testified against Johnson at trial. Johnson's motion to disqualify asserted that Judge Bentley sentenced Smith in connection with this agreement and did not disclose this prior involvement in the case, giving rise to Johnson's fear that he would not receive a fair hearing. Johnson's motion also stated that the records discovered at the Attorney General's office contained documents pertaining to Smith and that some of these records had been removed and replaced with blank pages numbered at the bottom. Johnson further asserted that Judge Bentley reviewed, in camera, records that were claimed exempt by the Attorney General's office and ruled they were exempt. Johnson then stated that it was unclear whether the documents claimed to be exempt from disclosure were the same documents missing from Smith's records and that, given Judge Bentley's prior involvement in the case as Smith's sentencing judge, he feared that he would not receive a fair hearing. These allegations are insufficient to support a motion to disqualify. In order to maintain a motion to disqualify, the motion must establish a well-grounded fear on the part of the movant that he or she will not receive a fair hearing. See Quince v. State, 592 So.2d 669, 670 (Fla.1992). In determining whether a motion to disqualify is legally sufficient, this Court looks to see whether the facts alleged would place a reasonably prudent person in fear of not receiving a fair and impartial trial. See Livingston v. State, 441 So.2d 1083, 1087 (Fla.1983). Johnson's allegations that Judge Bentley suspended Smith's sentence and held an in-camera review of records that may have pertained to Smith does not set forth a well-grounded fear and fails to show the personal bias or prejudice on the part of the trial judge necessary for disqualification. See Tafero v. State, 403 So.2d 355 (Fla.1981). In Scott v. State, 717 So.2d 908 (Fla.1998), an affiant's sworn statement containing exculpatory information for the defendant was presented to the court to support the defendant's Brady [4] claim. The defendant moved to disqualify the trial judge based on the fact that the judge had presided over an unrelated trial of the affiant, had received correspondence from a jailer or from the affiant in the prior matter, and had commented on the affiant's sentence. Id. at 911. This Court found that allegations of the judge's prior involvement in the affiant's case did not set forth a well-grounded fear of prejudice. Id. Similarly, the fact that Judge Bentley sentenced Smith, without more, does not reasonably demonstrate any predisposition in the mind of Judge Bentley. Circuit judges are called upon to handle many cases, and absent some showing of bias, a motion to disqualify that is based on a judge's prior involvement in a witness's case is insufficient to support a motion to dismiss. Thus, we find that this claim has no merit.