Opinion ID: 163791
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: District Court’s Comments

Text: Thomas asserts that the district court’s remarks to Jones prejudiced his right to a fair jury trial because the statements influenced the jury to convict him in order to protect Jones and society from the harm caused by his alleged drug activities. This court has recognized that “[a] trial judge must be a disinterested and objective participant in the proceedings and must not create an appearance of partiality by supporting one of the parties.” United States v. Deters, 184 F.3d 1253, 1256 (10th Cir. 1999) (quotation omitted). When a trial judge makes comments alleged to have denied a defendant the right to a fair trial, this court must consider “whether the judge’s behavior was so prejudicial that it denied [the defendant] a fair, as opposed to perfect, trial.” Id. (quotation omitted). Specifically, this court will examine the record to determine if the trial judge’s alleged partiality impacted the jury to a level at which the comments became a factor in their determination. Id. Although the trial judge’s comments in this instance were unnecessary, the remarks were not so prejudicial as to deny Thomas the right to a fair trial. The comments did not reference Thomas at all and there is no natural implication that Thomas was responsible for threatening the witness’ life by supplying her the drugs she used, especially since the witness admitted to being a drug user for two to three years longer than she knew Thomas. Moreover, there were no other -10- comments made by the district court during the four days of trial which suggested