Sommers v. Commonwealth

I must respectfully dissent from the majority opinion because the trial judge did not abuse his discretion when he refused to recuse himself, and the trial judge did not abuse his discretion when he denied a motion for a defense-oriented pathologist and arson expert.

The motion to recuse was filed on September 11, 1989, approximately 4 weeks before the scheduled trial. No affidavit was filed in support of the motion, but copies of ten newspaper articles were attached to the memorandum filed by Som-mers’ counsel. Seven of the articles mentioned Judge Graves. The newspaper articles indicated…