When will a federal judge be remanded to a different judge for a retrial or resentencing?

Against these general rules for the preservation of the appearance of fairness must be balanced countervailing considerations of efficiency and feasibility. Where the original judge has gained familiarity with a detailed factual record, which is vital to the determination to be made on remand, and the reversal is not based on erroneous findings or the admission of prejudicial evidence that would be difficult to erase from the mind, the case may properly be remanded to the original trial judge, since assignment to a different judge would only entail wasteful delay or duplicated effort. Similarly, the practical problem posed in obtaining another judge to sit upon a retrial or resentencing in a one or two-judge district is a factor that must be weighed in the balance. See generally O'Shea v. United States, supra, at 778-80 (1st Cir. 1974).

We do not here treat the far more sensitive issue of when mandamus may lie to require the recusal of a district judge for personal bias. Compare Wolfson v. Palmieri, 396 F.2d 121 (2d Cir. 1968). Rather our object is simply to set forth those guidelines considered in deciding whether to remand for retrial or resentencing before a different judge and to assure that no personal criticism of the original judge is involved.