Court Opinion

ID: 9722957
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 09:58:33.674207+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:15:56.905965
License: Public Domain

Dissenting Opinion
DeBruler, J.
The law most surely enjoins Indiana trial judges from making statements before the jury which subvert the fairness of the proceedings. Kennedy v. State, (1972) 258 Ind. 211, 280 N.E.2d 611. On the other hand, however, the judge conducting a jury trial has the affirmative duty to guide the trial away from the wasteful expenditure of time, the totally irrelevant, and the unnecessarily prejudicial. Musick v. State, (1976) 265 Ind. 207, 352 N.E.2d 717; ABA Standards, Function of the Trial Judge § 1.1(a) (Approved Draft, 1972). In attempting to fulfill the spirit of these requirements in the reality of trial, a judge is often called upon to conceal his human reaction to trial events. Those events may swiftly alter direction or intensity and call for a firm and unyielding ruling; in this fluidness the judge’s words may reveal his personal sense of dismay, anger, or frustration. However, I agree that even given the tolerance which these circumstances dictate for judges who review allegations of trial judge misconduct, the law must not permit a trial judge to influence the jury’s verdict with his personal views of relevant matter. If, for example, as in the Kennedy case, the judge in examining a witness clearly reveals that he does not believe the testimony of that witness, a substantial likelihood is created that the jury will adopt the judge’s evaluation rather than arriving at its own independent evaluation. The propensity of a jury to do this arises from the respect and esteem with which a judge’s office and experience are ordinarily held. The expression of such opinions by the judge is intolerable.
*61I cannot perceive that the conduct of the judge complained of here by appellant was so egregious as to significantly threaten the fairness of the trial. The hypothetical situation outlined by the judge in challenging the reluctant prospective juror was very different from the facts of the case on trial, and would not have been understood by those overhearing it as an expression by the judge of his opinion of appellant’s guilt or of the punishment which should result if appellant were found guilty. Moreover, we do not know whether those prospective jurors who heard the statement actually served on the jury.
The statement of the judge in ruling that the defense could not call Sheriff Boggs as a witness did not convey to the jury the manner in which the judge may personally have evaluated Burns’ testimony. And if the ruling excluding Boggs as a witness was itself error such error was harmless by the time the jury got the case. Appellant had hoped to impeach Burns’ credibility with Boggs. By the time all the evidence was in, appellant had taken the witness stand, admitted that she had stabbed and killed the victim and confirmed the truth of Burns’ testimony in most respects. Her interest in having the jury make a cautious and careful evaluation of the credibility of Burns had ebbed to a very low range.
The rest of the statements complained of were not shown by the record to have been made in a biased and partial manner and were done in exercise of the judge’s legitimate authority to guide the trial.
Appellant should not prevail in this appeal.
Note. — Reported at 366 N.E.2d 1180.