What is the test for misconduct in a trial where a judge makes disparaging remarks to an attorney or witness?

California, United States of America


The following excerpt is from Francisco v. Alameda-Contra Costa Transit Dist., A142884 (Cal. App. 2018):

In conducting trials, judges " 'should be exceedingly discreet in what they say and do in the presence of a jury lest they seem to lean toward or lend their influence to one side of the other.' " (People v. Sturm (2006) 37 Cal.4th 1218, 1237-1238.) A trial court commits misconduct, for example, if it " ' "persists in making discourteous and disparaging remarks to [an attorney or witness] and utters frequent comment from which the jury may plainly perceive that the testimony of the witness is not believed by the judge." ' " (Ibid.) " ' "[O]ur role . . . is not to determine whether the trial judge's conduct left something to be desired, or even whether some comments would have been better left unsaid. Rather, we must determine whether the judge's behavior was so

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