Opinion ID: 853215
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 10

Heading: Post-Conviction Court Bias

Text: For his final allegation of error Saylor asserts the post-conviction court judge was biased against him thereby rendering the court's judgment unreliable. He points to two events in support of his assertion: (1) the judge's wholesale adoption of the State's proposed findings of fact and conclusions of law; and (2) ex parte communication between the post-conviction court judge and the prosecutor who handled Saylor's original trial. As to item (1), this Court recently addressed this issue and held that the practice of a judge adopting a party's proposed findings and conclusions in a post-conviction proceeding is not prohibited. Prowell, 741 N.E.2d at 709. As we discussed: It is not uncommon for a trial court to enter findings that are verbatim reproductions of submissions by the prevailing party. The trial courts of this state are faced with an enormous volume of cases and few have the law clerks and other resources that would be available in a more perfect world to help craft more elegant trial court findings and legal reasoning. We recognize that the need to keep the docket moving is properly a high priority for our trial bench. For this reason, we do not prohibit the practice of adopting a party's proposed findings. Id. at 708-09. Thus, although we do not encourage post-conviction court judges to adopt wholesale the findings and conclusions of either party, we decline to find bias solely on that basis. The critical inquiry is whether the findings adopted by the court are clearly erroneous. See Woods v. State, 701 N.E.2d 1208, 1210 (Ind.1998) (accepting findings of fact unless they are clearly erroneous, although we give conclusions of law no deference). Here, out of eighty-six pages of findings and conclusions, based on a trial and post-conviction record exceeding forty-four volumes, Saylor points to four minor inconsistencies between the evidence presented at trial and the findings of the trial court. And in one instance of an alleged erroneous finding, Saylor is simply wrong. [24] In any event, Saylor has not demonstrated bias based on this point. Concerning the ex parte communication, the facts are these. William Lawler was the former prosecutor for Madison County and had prosecuted Saylor at trial. Several days after the conclusion of the hearing on Saylor's petition for post-conviction relief, Lawler was present at the Madison County Courthouse and, as was his custom, visited the Circuit Court to say hello to court personnel including Judge Spencer, the Special Judge appointed to preside over the post-conviction hearing. P-C R. at 4754, 4757. While there, Lawler and Judge Spencer engaged in small talk lasting no more than three to five minutes that included a discussion about the Shrine Club and the price of Vidalia onions. P-C R. at 4761-63. In the course of that conversation the Saylor case was mentioned in general terms, with Judge Spencer making one (1) or two (2) brief remarks about the difficulty in cases where you have to decide if a person lives or dies. P-C R. at 4780. Judge Spencer later disclosed the conversation to the appropriate authorities. P-C R. at 4781-82. After Saylor's counsel learned of the meeting, he filed a motion for recusal. After a hearing, the motion was denied. The law presumes that a judge is unbiased and unprejudiced. James v. State, 716 N.E.2d 935, 940 (Ind.1999); In re Edwards, 694 N.E.2d 701, 711 (Ind. 1998); Smith v. State, 535 N.E.2d 1155, 1157 (Ind.1989). However, Indiana practice has always leaned toward recusal where reasonable questions about impartiality exist. Tyson v. State, 622 N.E.2d 457, 460 (Ind.1993). Indiana's Code of Judicial Conduct provides, A judge shall not initiate, permit, or consider ex parte communications. except in limited circumstances. Ind. Judicial Conduct Canon 3(B)(8). It further provides, A judge shall disqualify himself or herself in a proceeding in which the judge's impartiality might reasonably be questioned.... Jud.Canon 3(E). The test then is whether an objective person, knowledgeable of all the circumstances, would have a reasonable basis for doubting the judge's impartiality. James, 716 N.E.2d at 940; Edwards, 694 N.E.2d at 710; Tyson, 622 N.E.2d at 459. Here, the test is not met. The facts and circumstances are significantly different from those in which there is a reasonable basis for doubting the judge's impartiality. Cf. Tyson, 622 N.E.2d at 459-60 (finding a reasonable basis where the judge's wife advised an attorney on how to obtain a better result for his client appearing before the judge); Bell v. State, 655 N.E.2d 129, 132 (Ind.Ct. App.1995) (finding a reasonable basis where the judge made no effort to explain the nature of his ex parte communication with defendant's co-conspirator or to assure defendant that the private meeting in no way impacted his case); In re Guardianship of Garrard, 624 N.E.2d 68, 70 (Ind.Ct.App.1993) (finding a reasonable basis where the court met ex parte with an expert witness in an attempt to settle the matter more quickly). We conclude that Saylor's claim of judicial bias fails.