Court Opinion

ID: 9636363
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 14:25:17.268912+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:15:03.995046
License: Public Domain

ROBERTS, Chief Justice,
dissenting.
I agree with the majority that the circumstances of this case, including the trial judge’s inability to deny making remarks that could call his impartiality into question, merit the granting of relief to appellant. However, I cannot agree with the majority’s decision to limit that relief to the sentencing stage of appellant’s case.
The requirement of Canon 3 of the Code of Judicial Conduct that a judge “disqualify himself from a proceeding in which his impartiality might reasonably be questioned” is *25crucial not only to the protection of litigants’ rights but also to the preservation of the public’s respect for the rule of law. Accordingly, every judicial proceeding must not only be fair; it must appear to be fair. As the same considerations that lead the majority to conclude that appellant is entitled to resentencing by a different judge apply with equal force to the trial stage of the proceedings, appellant should be granted a new trial by a judge whose impartiality cannot reasonably be questioned.