People v. Tom

The Trial Justice propounded approximately 1,300 questions, which figure represents approximately 40% of all questions asked during the trial. In view of the language difficulties experienced by certain witnesses, some participation on his part was justified in order to clarify matters for the jury. However, the Trial Justice exceeded the bounds of proper intervention in this proceeding by usurping the authority of both the prosecutor, and defense counsel to determine the content, course and manner of their presentations. (People v Mees, 47 NY2d 997, 998; People v Brown, 53 AD2d 867.)…