District Judge Stephen J. Murphy of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan became exasperated with a defendant and remarked:
This guy has got my attention, Mr. Arnone [defense counsel]. What do you want me to do? This guy looks like a criminal to me. This is what criminals do. This isn't what innocent people, who want a fair trial do. He's indicted in Kentucky. He's indicted here. He's alleged to be dealing heroin, which addicts, hurts and kills people, and he's playing games with the Court. Do you agree?
About a year and a half later, after numerous pretrial hearings and proceedings, Judge Murphy presided over the trial where the defendant was found guilty and then imposed a sentence of 127 months.
The Sixth Circuit ruled that Judge Murphy should have recused, vacated the conviction and sentence and remanded the case for trial before another district judge. First, Judge Murphy's remark that the defendant "looks like a criminal to me" would indicate to a reasonable observer that the judge had prejudged the defendant's guilt based on his physical appearance. Second, Judge Murphy's remarks that "I'm tired of this case" and "I'm tired of this defendant" also indicated prejudgment of guilt. Third, that the defendant went through a series of lawyers did not make Judge Murphy's impatience understandable to the Sixth Circuit, although the government, of course, saw it otherwise:
To the contrary, we do not find the district judge's conduct understandable in the least. The complexity or long duration of a criminal case gives no license to a district court to prejudge the defendant's guilt or otherwise dispose of the case in any manner except through fair proceedings. And if [defendant] was more persistent than most defendants in pursuing his constitutional right to proceed to a jury trial on the merits, the district judge had ample means available to him to rule on any issues [defendant] raised and to keep the proceedings on track.
The defendant moved for Judge Murphy's recusal right before his trial started. In fairness to Judge Murphy, he did apologize, more or less, for his earlier remarks and assured the defendant he would get a fair trial. That didn't cut any ice with the Sixth Circuit which observed that Judge Murphy "could have acted sua sponte to address the issue of recusal, or at least to convene a hearing to discuss with the parties the need for recusal."
The case is United States v. Liggins. See also Appeals court scolds federal judge for saying defendant 'looks like a criminal'; After federal judge says Black man "looks like a criminal to me," appeals court tosses man's conviction.
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