Sherk v. Catena

Judgment reversed on the law and the facts and a new trial granted, costs to abide the event. In our opinion the appellants did not have a fair retrial of the issues, inasmuch as the trial justice had, at the close of the first trial, stated that he did not believe the defendants or any of them, and at the close of the second trial stated: “ The retrial .-of this case only confirms the conviction that I had on the first trial that neither of the defendants is worthy of belief. They would both swear to anything.” It is obvious, from such statements, that the trial justice was biased and…