Opinion ID: 1115282
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 19

Heading: the law of the united states today

Text: Contrary to the suggestion in the majority, there is a very large reservoir of authority. First, I find the cases cited to justify the trial judge's retention of the case for retrial both non-persuasive and inapplicable. Secondly, consideration of the self-judging standard is severely limited in a fashion not recognized by the broadly stated conclusion that the trial judge has the right to consider the legal sufficiency of facts alleged to require his disqualification. Third, little or no current authority retains the forsaken explication that a trial judge has a duty to serve for justification that a biased or prejudiced adjudicator should remain on the case. Duty to serve is no longer justification for non-recusal. The question is the existence of a preclusive attitude of unfairness otherwise characterized as bias or prejudice or just prejudgment before listening to the facts to be presented. Impartiality and open-mindedness of the trial judge is an absolute right for the litigant and an indispensable standard within the justice delivery system. This is a case on its facts if the subject had been briefed and presented for appeal where the trial court may have first expressed a finite opinion on guilt to a trial juror after rendition of the verdict and while an appeal was pending and then provided an adjudicatory decision on the subject of recantation as a measure of his opinion substantially in advance of the hearing held on the motion for new trial. Within the concept of the cases now postured for resolution of rules for future cases, the issue is prejudgment. There is a current Colorado case with similar facts which is finitely in point. Estep v. Hardeman, 705 P.2d 523 (Colo. 1985) has almost the same identical factual situation, except in Estep, the judge's views were communicated to counsel. Here, they were not known until the day of the hearing in one regard and in the second regard, not until substantially after the decision. Estep involved a motion for a new trial. The importance of the credibility of the witness who had been subject to the advance denied credibility was obvious. The appellate court recognized that premature questioning of the credibility of a potential witness was legally sufficient to require trial court disqualification prior to the hearing on the motion for the new trial. The tenor and import of the judge's comment regarding the credibility of Estep's [petitioner] prospective witnesses were such as to constitute a premature determination that the witnesses were not truthful and suggest a predisposition on the respondent's [judge] part to deny the petitioner's motion for post-conviction relief. Such a predisposition regarding the credibility of potential witnesses, at a time when no testimony has yet been offered by those witnesses, can only frustrate the goal of providing the petitioner with a meaningful hearing before an impartial tribunal. Prejudgments regarding the quality of evidence to be heard are not consistent with the duty of the trial court to reach an unbiased decision after weighing all the evidence. Id. at 526-27 (footnotes omitted). For further review, a valuable and considerate discussion is provided by Lewis, Systemic Due Process: Procedural Concepts and the Problem of Recusal, 38 U. of Kan.L.Rev. 381 (1990). Included in part in the author's broad evaluation was the statement: An independent and impartial decisionmaker is crucial to the effective functioning of our justice system. As former California Supreme Court Chief Justice Roger Traynor stated before the Senate Judiciary Committee, [a]n independent and honorable judiciary is indispensable to justice in our society. A judge should participate in establishing, maintaining, and enforcing, and should himself observe, high standards of conduct so that the integrity and independence of the judiciary may be preserved. A biased judiciary threatens the legitimacy of the entire legal process. Over one hundred years ago a court noted that lack of judicial impartiality extends beyond its effect on the parties to question the integrity of the entire judicial system: [T]he Court ought not to be astute to discover refined and subtle distinctions to save a case from the operation of the maxim, [`No one can be a judge in his own cause'] when the principle it embodies bespeaks the propriety of its application. The immediate rights of the litigants are not the only objects of the rule. A sound public policy, which is interested in preserving every tribunal appointed by law from discredit, imperiously demands its observance. In light of the inconsistent application of existing recusal standards, a new recusal approach is needed that will apply uniform rules to all areas of judicial impropriety. When a biased decisionmaker sits, the legal process loses its legitimacy. Thus, protections against abuses of judicial bias or relationship are as necessary as safeguards against abuse of pecuniary interest. Id. at 409-10 (quoting Stockwell v. Township Bd., 22 Mich. 341, 350 (1871) and footnotes omitted). The Alaska court in Perotti v. State, 806 P.2d 325, 327 (Alaska App. 1991) recently re-emphasized in consideration of Canon 3(C)(1) of the Code of Judicial Conduct that the requirement of disqualification `in a proceedings in which his impartiality might reasonably be questioned' requires also an analysis that is likely to flow from participation in the case at issue. This is the close relationship between actual and apparent impartiality and is found in the objective standard of public perception. A particular question of bias and prejudice presented here is pre-hearing or pretrial statements showing mind-set or factual opinion. One source for characterization and categorization, after first recognizing the non-applicability of what may have occurred during the trial or hearing process itself, is 48A C.J.S. Judges § 117 (1981). On the other hand it is generally held that the exhibition of partisan feeling, or the unnecessary expression of opinion, showing bias or prejudice, or on appearance thereof, or a prejudgment of the matter in issue will disqualify a judge. Id. at 770-71 (emphasis added). Some reference to the voluminous nature of the case law is required to address this subject of a determined and stated opinion in advance of hearing by the trial judge. [11] Under certain circumstances, a trial judge is required to raise the issue of disqualification on his own motion. One such case is where the defendant or his attorney was not present when the statement was made reflecting predecision or prejudgment of the court on a significant issue. See People v. Gibson, 90 Mich. App. 792, 282 N.W.2d 483 (1979) and People v. Dixson, 403 Mich. 106, 267 N.W.2d 423 (1978). See also Doe v. State, 91 N.M. 51, 570 P.2d 589 (1977). It is apparent that two differentiated standards have developed. One requires recusal when a reasonable judge would find it necessary to do so. Aetna Life Ins. Co. v. Lavoie, 475 U.S. 813, 106 S.Ct. 1580, 89 L.Ed.2d 823 (1986). This approach is analyzed from a due process criteria related to the established effect on the litigant. Aetna Life Ins. Co., 475 U.S. at 825, 106 S.Ct. at 1587; United States v. Couch, 896 F.2d 78 (5th Cir.1990). The other standard requires disqualification in any proceeding in which his impartiality might reasonably be questioned as a matter of public perception. Liljeberg v. Health Services Acquisition Corp., 486 U.S. 847, 108 S.Ct. 2194, 100 L.Ed.2d 855 (1988); Couch, 896 F.2d at 82. A justice must satisfy the appearance of justice, Matter of Yagman, 796 F.2d 1165, opinion amended and reh'g denied 803 F.2d 1085 (1986), mandamus granted 815 F.2d 575 (9th Cir.), cert. denied 484 U.S. 963, 108 S.Ct. 450, 98 L.Ed.2d 390 (1987); United States v. Diaz, 797 F.2d 99 (2nd Cir.1986). This second standard is now specifically restated in the American Bar Association Code and adopted by this state as the 1990 Wyoming Code of Judicial Conduct. It is explicitly stated in Canon 3(E)(1)(a) an appropriate commentary. See State ex rel. Wesolich v. Goeke, 794 S.W.2d 692 (Mo. App. 1990), which included a discussion of the Canons of Judicial Conduct. This approach develops from a standard of the maintenance of a proper public perception and the intrinsic reliability, validity and integrity of the judiciary. [12] There is a corollary rule also firmly established that the challenged judge will not determine contested issues of fact directed to request recusal. If adequate facts are alleged as a criteria of judicial conduct to require recusal, immediate action to withdraw is required. Truthfulness of the facts cannot be questioned by the judge. Lester v. Com., 250 Ky. 227, 62 S.W.2d 469 (1933). This rule has an extended history. Dickenson v. Parks, 104 Fla. 577, 140 So. 459 (1932). Cf. Berry v. Berry, 654 S.W.2d 155 (Mo. App. 1983). If any factual inquiry is required or provided, another judge should be called for hearing or decision. Orderville Irr. Co. v. Glendale Irr. Co., 17 Utah.2d 282, 409 P.2d 616 (1965).