State v. Lamb

¶ 1 Emerson Lamb appeals a judgment of conviction based upon his no-contest plea to battery by a prisoner, as well as an order denying his post-conviction motion. Lamb argues the sentencing court demonstrated objective bias by making comments prior to sentencing that indicated it was very unlikely he would receive probation. We agree with Lamb that the court's comments-which occurred before it had heard any sentencing arguments from the parties and in a context where no presentence investigation report (PSI) was prepared-showed a serious risk that the court had prejudged Lamb's sentence.…