Tennessee Criminal Lawyer Blog

A suspected serial killer accused of murdering eleven women has received a new judge to try his murder case after the Ohio Supreme Court has removed his current judge under suspicion of inappropriate conduct. The man’s attorney filed a motion to have the judge removed in order to avoid the “appearance of impropriety,” alleging that the judge discussed the case with another judge outside of the presence of the defendant or his attorneys, that the judge made inappropriate comments about the defendant on a website, and that the judge had a financial stake in the outcome of the case. All three of these activities would be grounds for disqualification of the judge if they were true. At this point, there is no definitive evidence that the allegations are true, but the fact that such serious allegations were made apparently prompted the Ohio Supreme Court to take action.

One of the most concrete rights of all criminal defendants is the right to a fair trial. This right carries with it the right to an impartial jury and an impartial judge. Impartiality is critical in criminal cases, because a judge makes evidentiary and other rulings at trial that have enormous impact on the outcome of the case. For this reason, a conviction obtained at a trial over which a biased or impartial judge presided would almost certainly be overturned and a new trial would be granted. This would amount to a serious waste of judicial resources and damage the efficiency and integrity of the court. The Model Rules of Judicial Conduct, which is a body of regulations that sets the ethical standards for judges, recognizes this and instructs its judges to avoid the appearance of impropriety at all times.

Unfortunately, defendants do not always have a fair, unbiased judge and do not always get a fair trial. Tennesseans who feel like they have been subjected to an unfair trial should consult an experienced criminal defense attorney who can assist them in appealing their conviction and resolving the case.

Source: http://www.aolnews.com/nation/article/shirley-strickland-saffold-is-second-judge-replaced-in-anthony-sowell-ohio-serial-killer-case/19457606