Opinion ID: 2609747
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: conduct of court toward defense counsel

Text: Appellants have cited a number of instances in which they allege that the trial court, in the presence of the jury, unnecessarily belittled the conduct and personal competency of appellants' counsel to the prejudice of appellants' case. In United States v. Porter, 441 F.2d 1204, 1213-1215 (8th Cir.1971), a case involving a similar factual situation where the trial court had made various remarks on the conduct of defense counsel, the court stated: Although on rare occasion discipline of counsel or parties may require unusual action by the court, there should always remain above all else the neutrality of the trial court manifesting to the jury no inkling of one-sidedness or bias. When comments of the trial court exceed the boundaries of fair discipline by official disparagement of counsel or of a litigant's case, then error must follow. It is charged that this happened here. We have reviewed the record and agree that many of the court's comments bordered on, and in some instances exceeded, the confines of judicial propriety. (Footnote omitted) ...... We are fully aware that judges are human and succumb to common frailties such as impatience. But a trial judge must ever be mindful of the important role he occupies in presiding over a trial where valuable rights and liberties of the litigants are at stake. He is duty bound to exercise patience and restraint in his rulings so that the fundamental right of the parties to a fair and impartial [ sic ] trial is protected and preserved... . ...... Whether or not error by reason of the court's comments is so prejudicial as to require a new trial is not resolved by a standard of facile application. The rule was stated in a similar context in Fahy v. Connecticut, 375 U.S. 85, 86-87, 84 S.Ct. 229, 11 L.Ed.2d 171 (1963), that error is not harmless if there is a reasonable possibility that the matter complained of might have contributed to the conviction... . Judge Johnsen of this court observed in Homan v. United States, 279 F.2d 767, 771 (8 Cir.1960), cert. denied 364 U.S. 866, 81 S.Ct. 110, 5 L.Ed.2d 88: Errors of the trial court which may be prejudicial in a close criminal case, in the sense of being capable in such a situation of possibly affecting the result, can well be without any such rational possibility in a strong case, and thus not entitle the defendant to a reversal of his conviction. The reviewing court must, of course, be able to say with fair assurance that the errors complained of could not, with natural operation in the total setting and proceedings had, be regarded as having possessed any influencing effect. ... Jurors are not isolated machines which may be tested for bias by computerized analysis. They each possess human emotions, reactions and intelligence of varying degrees. Experience and study indicate, however, that the composite jury possesses far more intelligence than most judges and lawyers credit to it. The ability to fairly weigh the evidence, to discard irrelevancies, to assess equity and to ignore prejudicial comment of lawyers and judges alike is the underlying strength of the jury system. This is not to say that the improper comment will in all cases be ignored. Each record must always speak for itself... . (Footnote omitted.) See also United States v. Carrion, 463 F.2d 704 (9th Cir.1972). Upon review of the record and, applying the tests stated in Porter, I am of the opinion that the remarks made by the trial court toward appellants' counsel in the presence of the jury, although at times unjudiciously expressed, were not prejudicial to warrant a reversal of the conviction.