Opinion ID: 1383224
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Trial court's remarks at sentencing

Text: Ferguson contends that trial counsel was ineffective for failing to object to the trial court's derogatory remarks at sentencing. These remarks included, You deserve the death penalty more than any case I've ever had in my life. And when I see those pictures of that young woman, it even makes my blood boil a little bit. Ferguson maintains that these remarks demonstrated a bias and hostility toward him, although he does not state exactly what relief trial counsel should have sought. Regardless, the motion court did not clearly err in finding that the record did not support the claim, and that Ferguson had not overcome the presumption that judges do not consider improper evidence in sentencing. The judge's remarks were made during, not before, pronouncement of the sentence and were made to explain the sentence, and therefore, they do not establish disqualifying bias. See State v. Whitfield, 939 S.W.2d 361, 368 (Mo. banc), cert. denied, 522 U.S. 831, 118 S.Ct. 97, 139 L.Ed.2d 52 (1997). Furthermore, the trial court's comments in this case are not unlike allegedly derogatory comments in other cases that this Court held were not improper. See, e.g., Haynes v. State, 937 S.W.2d 199, 201-02 (Mo. banc 1996).