People v. Wichman

The defendant appeals his jury trial conviction of armed robbery, claiming that the trial judge’s instructions taken as a whole were so prejudicial that he was deprived of a fair trial.

The question presented involves an interpretation of the provisions conferring upon trial judges the power to comment on the evidence when instructing the jury, a power conferred on Michigan trial judges in both civil and criminal eases some 40 years ago as part of general procedural reforms.

Critics of the jury system have proposed substituting trained fact finders in both civil and criminal cases. Those…