Court Opinion

ID: 9559590
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 17:32:01.138299+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:10:39.914228
License: Public Domain

Shearing, J.,
dissenting:
I would affirm the judgment of conviction. I have reviewed the trial transcript, and I do not believe that the district judge was unfair to Oade or to Oade’s counsel. The district judge, indeed, issued frequent admonitions to the attorneys. Through these admonitions, however, the judge sought to focus on the relevant issues, avoid inappropriate argument and prevent counsel from repeating questions or arguing after objections were sustained. A trial judge bears a responsibility to maintain order and decorum in courtroom proceedings. Nev. Code of Judicial Conduct Canon 3(B)(3). The district judge upheld those responsibilities.
Even when the district judge admonished the attorneys, he repeatedly told the jury that these admonitions did not reflect his opinion on the merits of the case or the attorneys. The judge explained that he was trying to run the courtroom in the manner he deemed appropriate.
Oade argues that even comments which clearly express this appropriate goal of the district court were prejudicial to him. I do not accept this argument. Oade maintains, for example, that the following comment by the district judge is prejudicial:
This Court does not have any position one way or the other involving any particular position or particular argument of counsel. ... It also is aware that the conduct of counsel is to be constrained when necessary by the court. I want you to know that I do not favor or disfavor Mr. Flangas, his position, himself personally, his son or his client. I don’t know them. Neither do I favor or disfavor the prosecution. But what I’m going to do to the best of my ability is run this courtroom. I’m not going to permit counsel to engage in conduct which I believe is inappropriate.
I’ve already told them [counsel] that’s the way this courtroom will be run is a search for the truth. I will not be deterred from that position. I hold no grudge against any counsel or against any advocate, but I will not permit the search for truth to be corrupted in any respect, nor will I permit counsel to misbehave. That’s one of the obligations of the judge.
The district judge did not limit his admonitions to the defendant or his counsel but applied them equally to the defense and prosecution. At one point, the prosecutor accused the district *626judge of being derisive to him. I suggest that the district judge was simply controlling his courtroom.
The only interjection by the district judge which I found potentially prejudicial occurred during the argument among the district judge, counsel and a witness about the rules of Blackjack. Instead of allowing the witness to testify uninterrupted on the rules of Blackjack, the district judge interjected his own understanding of the rules and called the witness’s statement illogical. The witness, however, had ample opportunity later to discuss the rules. Subsequent testimony revealed that there existed no basic disagreement about the rules. Thus, I do not see how the judge’s interjection could have prejudiced Oade.
The judgment should be affirmed.