State v. Taylor
This text of 91 S.E.2d 924 (State v. Taylor) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of North Carolina primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.
Opinion
The questions and comment by the court tended to impeach or discredit the defendant. Counsel may cross-examine. The court cannot. Regardless of how unreasonable or improbable the defendant’s story, the court must maintain the “cold neutrality of an impartial judge.” Though not intended, the trial court’s questions may well have influenced the jury against the defendant. The danger is too great to permit the verdict to stand. The record discloses other assignments of error not without merit.
On the authority of S. v. Smith, 240 N.C. 99, 81 S.E. 2d 263, and cases there cited, a new trial is ordered.
New trial.
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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack
91 S.E.2d 924, 243 N.C. 688, 1956 N.C. LEXIS 607, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-taylor-nc-1956.