Opinion ID: 2343208
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 9

Heading: issue 8trial court criticism of co-defense counsel

Text: Jones avers that the trial court repeatedly and improperly criticized co-defense counsel, both in front of and away from the jury. Arguing that many of co-defense counsel's actions were improper, Jones believes that these condemnations prejudiced the jury against him, violating his right to a fair trial as secured by the federal and Pennsylvania Constitutions. Jones references nearly seventy instances of trial court misconduct. (Brief of Jones at 69-73). However, Jones focuses on one specific event as the driving force of his argument. He notes that Juror Number One, Laura McEwen (McEwen), was frustrated with the pace of the trial and believed that the defense (referring generally to all three co-defendants) was partly responsible for the delay. (Brief of Jones at 73-74 (citing N.T., 5/11/83, at 5215-16)). Jones asserts that this comment is proof that, notwithstanding the trial court's instruction that criticism of one defendant's counsel should not be taken as an admonition of all of the defense counsel, the jury blamed all defense counsel for the length of the trial and that he was prejudiced thereby. A judge's remarks to counsel do not warrant reversal unless the remarks so prejudice the jurors against the defendant that it may reasonably be said [that the remarks] deprived the defendant of a fair and impartial trial. Commonwealth v. England, 474 Pa. 1, 375 A.2d 1292, 1300 (1977) (stating that a judge's critical remarks to defense counsel did not deprive appellant of a fair and impartial trial because the remarks were directed to counsel, not appellant). We hold that Jones cannot establish the underlying merit of this claim. First, the comment was not directed at Jones; it was not even directed at his counsel. Thus, pursuant to our holding in England, no prejudice resulted. Further, McEwen did not state that she would be unable to perform her duties as a juror because of the frustration she felt towards counsel. Without such a demonstration, we fail to see that Jones was prejudiced by this particular comment. Where Jones suffered no harm, counsel cannot be ineffective for failing to bring a claim. Therefore, Jones cannot successfully establish any ineffective assistance of counsel with respect to this issue. See Hall, supra. We deem Jones' seventy-plus claims waived because he failed to: (1) properly develop these claims by explaining the circumstances and context of each trial court statement; (2) identify whether the comments were made in front of the jury; or (3) explain how each statement prejudiced him.