Opinion ID: 216830
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Sua Sponte Recusal

Text: Section 455 of Title 28 of the United States Code governs judicial recusals and requires that [a]ny justice, judge, or magistrate judge of the United States shall disqualify himself in any proceeding in which his impartiality might reasonably be questioned. 28 U.S.C. § 455(a). Reynolds argues that because the district court judge presided over the second competency hearing during which Reynolds made admissions of her guilt, the judge could not be impartial when overseeing the bench trial. Specifically, she asserts that because she admitted to possessing the firearms and to knowing that one had an obliterated serial number, the judge had either predetermined her guilt before the trial or predetermined her lack of credibility. This argument proves too much. Since Reynolds makes this claim for the first time on appeal, plain error review applies, and Reynolds cannot meet the prejudice prong. The parties stipulated to the admission of the second competency hearing transcript, which Reynolds does not now contest, and so any judge presiding over the bench trial would have considered Reynolds' statements made during the hearing. Moreover, opinions formed based on evidence introduced during the course of a case do not per se warrant recusal. Such opinions are properly and necessarily acquired in the course of the proceedings, and are indeed sometimes (as in a bench trial) necessary to completion of the judge's task. Liteky v. United States, 510 U.S. 540, 550-51, 114 S.Ct. 1147, 127 L.Ed.2d 474 (1994).