Todd v. Stegal

40 F. App'x 25
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
DecidedApril 12, 2002
DocketNo. 00-2203, 98-72656, 09-29-00
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 40 F. App'x 25 (Todd v. Stegal) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Todd v. Stegal, 40 F. App'x 25 (6th Cir. 2002).

Opinion

PER CURIAM.

This is an appeal from the district court’s denial of a petition for writ of habe-as corpus filed on behalf of a state prisoner under 28 U.S.C. § 2254.

Petitioner Damion Todd was convicted in 1986 of first degree murder, assault with intent to commit murder, and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony. His conviction was upheld on appeal. Petitioner’s attempts to obtain state post-conviction remedies were unsuccessful.

In his section 2254 petition for post-conviction relief, petitioner raised several arguments, including the two due process arguments that are raised here on appeal: that he was denied due process by the conduct and comments of the trial judge and by the failure of the trial judge to instruct the jury on the lesser included offense of voluntary manslaughter. The district court denied the petition for writ of habeas corpus.

Although we review de novo the district court’s disposition of a petition for writ of habeas corpus, we review the district court’s factual findings only for clear error. Carter v. Bell, 218 F.3d 581, 590-91 (6th Cir.2000) (citing McQueen v. Scroggy, 99 F.3d 1302, 1310 (6th Cir.1996). Determinations involving mixed questions of fact and law receive de novo review. Gall v. Parker, 231 F.3d 265, 283 (6th Cir.2000), [27]*27cert. denied, 533 U.S. 941, 121 S.Ct. 2577, 150 L.Ed.2d 739 (2001). For the reasons that follow, we affirm the district court’s denial of the writ.

I.

Petitioner contends that the trial judge consistently undermined and demeaned the defense and defense counsel, that the trial judge’s treatment of petitioner’s trial counsel was marked by hostility and impatience, and that he unmistakably communicated his bias and prejudice against the defense and defense counsel to the jury. Petitioner contends the trial judge’s manner was so derisive, belittling, and insulting as to impinge on petitioner’s fair trial rights. In support of this argument, petitioner highlights eight verbal exchanges between his trial counsel and the judge, six of which occurred in the presence of the jury. Petitioner further argues that the trial judge engaged in prejudicial non-verbal behavior, such as rolling his eyes and using a derisive tone of voice.

We have held that on direct review reversal is only warranted where the conduct of the trial court is “egregious, and fairly capable of characterization as beyond that necessary to fulfill the role of ‘governor of the trial for the purpose of assuring its proper conduct and of determining questions of law.’” United States v. Tilton, 714 F.2d 642, 645 (6th Cir.1983) (quoting Quercia v. United States, 289 U.S. 466, 469, 53 S.Ct. 698, 77 L.Ed. 1321 (1933)). When considering a claim of judicial misconduct on habeas review, the question is not simply whether the trial judge engaged in conduct that might be considered reversible error on direct review. Rather, as we noted in McBee v. Grant, 763 F.2d 811 (6th Cir.1985), “[ujnless they amount to constitutional violations, prejudicial comments and conduct by a judge in a criminal trial are not proper subjects for collateral attack on a conviction.” Id. at 818 (quoting Brinlee v. Crisp, 608 F.2d 839, 853 (10th Cir.1979)). To violate a defendant’s right to a fair trial, a trial judge’s comments and conduct would have to reach “a significant extent” and be adverse to the defendant “to a substantial degree.” McBee, 763 F.2d at 818 (quoting Daye v. Attorney Gen., 712 F.2d 1566, 1572 (2d Cir.1983)). See also Harrington v. Iowa, 109 F.3d 1275, 1280 (8th Cir.1997) (“In considering judicial misconduct on ha-beas review, we examine the trial judge’s behavior in the context of the entire trial to determine whether the behavior was so prejudicial as to violate due process.”); Duckett v. Godinez, 67 F.3d 734, 740 (9th Cir.1995) (holding that on habeas, issue is whether state trial judge’s behavior rendered trial so fundamentally unfair as to violate federal due process).

Upon de novo review of the record, we affirm the district court’s determination that the state trial judge’s comments and conduct were not so prejudicial as to render the trial fundamentally unfair. Trial judges must be given wide latitude in conducting their trials. See Harrington, 109 F.3d at 1280. As we noted in Tilton, a trial judge has a duty “to conduct the trial in an orderly fashion, to insure that the issues are not obscured and to act at all times with a view toward eliciting the truth.” 714 F.2d at 643. The trial judge in this case was attempting to do just that. The trial judge undeniably expressed some impatience and frustration with defense counsel during the trial, but his expressions were generally in response to defense counsel’s combative style and his failure to accept the court’s direction. The reprimands were not out of line, nor were they substantially adverse to the defendant himself. There is no showing that the trial judge ever intimated his opinion on the merits of the case. This is not a case [28]*28where the trial court could, in any sense, be said to have indicated “a hostility to one of the parties, or an unwarranted prejudgment of the merits of the case, or an alignment on the part of the Court with one of the parties for the purpose of furthering or supporting the contention of such party.” Knapp v. Kinsey, 232 F.2d 458, 465-67 (6th Cir.1956).

The trial judge carefully instructed the jury that his rulings on the attorneys’ motions and objections did not reflect his personal opinion about the facts in the case and should not be taken as any indication of the court’s opinion as to how the jury should determine the facts. He further instructed the jury that “[i]f you have come to believe during the course of trial that I am telling you how to decide this case, disregard that opinion. You are the sole and exclusive judges of the facts.”

Viewing the record as a whole, this Court concludes that the trial court’s conduct and comments did not evidence any particular bias toward the defendant and consequently did not deprive petitioner of a fundamentally fair trial.

II.

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Bluebook (online)
40 F. App'x 25, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/todd-v-stegal-ca6-2002.