Court Opinion

ID: 9479619
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 07:23:39.577422+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:47:09.692197
License: Public Domain

McMILLIAN, Circuit Judge,
dissenting.
I respectfully dissent. I cannot agree that the district court’s summary of and' comments upon the evidence in this case are not plain error. Accordingly, I would reverse and remand for a new trial.
If the analysis of the majority opinion in Part IIA is correct, then in every criminal case in which identity is the “principal” issue, that is, when the defendant asserts that he or she did not commit the offense charged, it is proper for the trial judge to direct a verdict against the defendant on all of the elements of the offense but identity. In my opinion, this analysis improperly diminishes the jury’s role, limiting it to that of determining only identity. As I understand the law, directed verdicts against criminal defendants are not permissible. In a jury-tried case, whether or not the elements of the offense are disputed and regardless of the quantum of evidence presented against a criminal defendant, each element of the offense must be submitted to the jury, not the trial judge, for decision.
In the present case, the district court’s summary of and comments upon the evidence amounted, in my opinion, to a directed verdict against appellant on each element of the offenses charged except that of identity. Trial judges may summarize fairly and comment upon the evidence and focus the jury’s attention on the “principal” issues in a case. The comments here simply went too far.