Opinion ID: 1410749
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: The Judge's Comments

Text: Ms. Lipscomb argues that certain comments made by the judge at trial constituted reversible error in that they prejudiced the jury against her and impermissibly bolstered the credibility of a witness. The comments in question were made by the judge upon the conclusion of the testimony of defense witness Arlie Davis, a Tucker County Commissioner. The judge said: I am only going to make one comment. I am only going to make two; maybe I shouldn't, but I am. It is no disservice to be a county commissioner or a public official and he has the privilege of being a county commissioner and he is not a buddy of mine, but I will stand up and fight with him or for him anytime he needs somebody to. These county commissioners, all of them, do the best they can every day just like every other public official does in this courthouse, and there is not a one of them that don't do the best they can every day for the citizens of this county. Now they are not perfect and I am not either, but it is a privilege to work with them and for them and they are only working for Tucker County and nobody else. Trial Transcript, pages 145-146. As we have often noted, even in our earliest cases, judges play a special role in the courtroom: It has long been recognized that even a slight remark, apparently innocent in its language, may, when uttered by the court, have a decided weight in shaping the opinion of the jury. Vested as he [or she] is with superior authority, disinterested, and possessing experience not available to the ordinary layman, jurors, as a rule, are anxious to catch his view, upon which to found their conclusions. As the jurors should be the triers of the facts, such judicial influence should be studiously guarded against. State v. Austin, 93 W.Va. 704, 714, 117 S.E. 607, 611 (1923). In the courtroom, the judge is the locus of the enormous authority of the state. He or she controls the ebb and flow of trial, denies or sustains objections, commands and dismisses witnesses, and even tells the jurors when they are allowed to go to lunch. It is axiomatic that any man or woman one must address as your Honor projects a certain gravitas, and that words handed down from the bench impart a great impact upon the listening jury. Thus the duty of a judge is clear: The judge of the court when engaged in the trial of a case before a jury should studiously abstain from indicating by word, gesture or otherwise his personal views upon the weight of the evidence, or the credibility or incredibility of the witnesses, or the extent of the damages sued for, thereby to invade the province of the jurors, the proper triers of the facts. Syl. pt. 2, McDonald v. Beneficial Standard Life Ins. Co., 160 W.Va. 396, 235 S.E.2d 367 (1977) (quoting Syl. pt. 1, Dye v. Rathbone, 102 W.Va. 386, 135 S.E. 274 (1926)). Thus, we hold that the remarks made by the judge in this case fall beyond the ambit of permissible comments, and constitute reversible error. [5]