Williams v. United States

• Citation: 228 A.2d 846
• Decision Date: 02 May 1967
• Docket Number: No. 4059.,4059.
• Parties: Albert C. WILLIAMS, Appellant, v. UNITED STATES, Appellee.
• Court: Court of Appeals of Columbia District

Page 846

228 A.2d 846

Albert C. WILLIAMS, Appellant, v. UNITED STATES, Appellee.

No. 4059.

District of Columbia Court of Appeals.

Argued February 13, 1967.

Decided May 2, 1967.

Carl L. Taylor, Washington, D. C., for appellant.

Edward T. Miller, Asst. U. S. Atty., with whom David G. Bress, U. S. Atty., and Frank Q. Nebeker, Asst. U. S. Atty., were on the brief, for appellee.

Before HOOD, Chief Judge, MYERS, Associate Judge, and CAYTON (Chief Judge, Retired).

CAYTON, Judge:

Appellant was tried by jury and convicted of negligent homicide, D.C.Code 1961, § 40-606, and has appealed.

The principal matter with which we need to deal is the claim that the trial judge unduly intervened in the trial, usurped the function of counsel in cross-examination of witnesses, and harassed and discredited defense counsel to such an extent as to impair his ability to properly represent the defendant.

We have been guided by the rulings and observations in Jackson v. United States, 117 U.S.App.D.C. 325, 329 F.2d 893 (1964) and Young v. United States, 120 U.S.App.D.C. 312, 346 F.2d 793 (1965). The first of these cases dealt with needless or overactive interrogation of witnesses by a trial judge.

The second dealt with continuous interruptions and improper criticisms of defense counsel. We have closely studied the transcript, fully aware that it is not always possible to recapture the atmosphere of a trial from a typewritten script. We are aware, too, that we should "guard against the magnification on appeal of instances which were of little importance in their setting." Glasser v. United States, 315 U.S. 60, 83, 62 S.Ct. 457, 471, 86 L.Ed. 680, 706 (1942).

Sometimes there is difficulty in formulating and applying the tests by which such situations are to be judged on appeal. But it has generally been understood and held that a judge must not so inject himself into the examination or cross-examination of witnesses as to assume the role of an advocate or seem to favor one party against the other, especially in a criminal case. And it has been held over and over again that a judge must be cautious in personal criticism of defense counsel and refrain from making disparaging remarks to or concerning counsel, lest they reflect on and injure the defendant. There seems to be no doubt that both of these rules were violated in this case, time after time.

After criticizing defense counsel for being "unfair" to a government witness on cross, the judge took over and questioned the witness at length, posing questions which were to the detriment of the defense and leading to a protest by defense counsel that the judge was "hampering" his cross-examination. Similarly, to the same or a lesser degree, the judge injected himself into the cross-examination of two other government witnesses. He also took over the examination of four defense witnesses, consuming with two of them considerable time on extraneous matters which placed them in a bad light. These were not like those situations where a judge may properly intervene to question a...