Opinion ID: 779801
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Certification Hearing

Text: 46 Finally, Esparza claims his rights were violated when the trial judge failed to recuse himself after conducting a pretrial witness-certification hearing pursuant to Ohio R.Crim. P. 12(B)(1), (C), under which the court may allow the state to withhold personal information about a prosecution witness when the prosecuting attorney certifies to the court that to do so may subject the witness or others to physical or substantial economic harm or coercion. Id. The witness in question here was Catherine Stegg, Gregory Esparza's girlfriend and mother of his child, who feared that Esparza's brothers would harm her if they knew her whereabouts. In support of its certification request, the state provided information about Esparza's violent past. After the hearing, the judge granted the motion, allowing the state to exclude Stegg's personal information from discovery provided to Esparza. 47 The Ohio Supreme Court has held that it is error for a judge to preside at such a hearing and then preside at the subsequent trial, as the prejudicial information often revealed at such hearings could tend to prejudice a judge against a defendant. See State v. Gillard, 40 Ohio St.3d 226, 533 N.E.2d 272, 274 (1988), overruled on other grounds, State v. McGuire, 80 Ohio St.3d 390, 686 N.E.2d 1112 (1997). In such instances, however, harmless error analysis is appropriate. Id. at 277. Evaluating this claim on review, the Ohio Court of Appeals concluded that the error was harmless, noting in particular that the evidence that the judge heard at the hearing,  i.e., appellant's history of violent behavior, was also admitted at the penalty phase of the trial below. State v. Esparza, No. L-84-225, 1995 WL 302302, at  (Ohio App. 6th Dist. May 19, 1995). Rather than contending that the error was harmful, Esparza claims that such errors are structural and demand reversal in every instance. We disagree. The nature of the criminal justice system often requires judges to consider evidence and then dismiss it from their minds. See, e.g., With-row v. Larkin, 421 U.S. 35, 39, 95 S.Ct. 1456, 43 L.Ed.2d 712 (1975). Thus, harmless error analysis is called for here, and we find the Ohio court's conclusion that the error did Esparza no harm is a reasonable application of federal law. 48 Accordingly, the judgment of the District Court is affirmed.