Driessen v. State

The persistence of the trial court’s efforts to obtain a guilty plea from defendant Driessen raises questions concerning the court’s impartiality during the jury trial, conducted after Driessen rejected the offered plea. The court’s statement that “either he pleads to the terms that I gave or he goes to trial” (emphasis added) was not in itself unduly coercive, but when considered in light of subsequent events, reflected the court’s bias.

After defendant’s counsel concluded his questioning of Mrs. Melvin, Driessen’s mother, the court left little doubt that it considered her testimony unworthy…