Court Opinion

ID: 9463759
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-04 23:15:22.694472+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:38:16.260037
License: Public Domain

LAY, Circuit Judge,
concurring.
I join the majority opinion only to the extent that it holds that the court’s comments do not constitute plain error. If a proper objection had been made to the court’s comments, I would have some difficulty in holding that they did not constitute error. Based on the court’s comments, prefaced by “I would know how I would vote,” no juror of average intelligence and perception would have any difficulty in understanding the court’s attitude concerning the defendant’s guilt. I am aware that a trial judge has the right to make fair comments on the evidence and that this right has its roots in early common law.1 However, in this day and age, few trial judges exercise this prerogative and I must add that I fail to see the necessity for a trial judge to ever do so. See United States v. Brandom, 479 F.2d 830, 838 (8th Cir. 1973) (Lay, J., concurring); Rogers v. United States, 367 F.2d 998, 1003 (8th Cir. 1966) (Lay, J., dissenting). When a trial judge elects to do so, it always creates problems for appellate courts and, more often than not, results in the frustration of the effective administration of our criminal justice system. See Bollenbach v. United States, 326 U.S. 607, 66 S.Ct. 402, 90 L.Ed. 350 (1946); United States v. Brandom, supra; United States v. Dunmore, 446 F.2d 1214 *1096(8th Cir. 1971); and Cook v. United States, 18 F.2d 50 (8th Cir. 1927).

. Rule 105 of the Federal Rules of Evidence as originally proposed recognized the right of a trial judge to make objective and fair comment on the evidence. However, it is noteworthy that Congress eventually deleted this particular Rule. For a full discussion, see 1 J. Weinstein & M. Berger, Weinstein’s Evidence, Congressional Action on Standard 107, 107-1 to 107-4 (1975).