Harrison v. State

1. The trial judge was not disqualified from passing upon the motion for a new trial because when imposing sentence he had used language strongly indicating his belief in the guilt of the defendant. Any rational disinterested person compelled to give attention to the testimony adduced at a criminal trial, by reason of the fact that the proper conduct thereof rested upon him as the presiding judge, must necessarily form some opinion as to the guilt or innocence of the accused. To hold that an expression from the trial judge of his opinion that the accused is guilty, after the jury has returned…