A judge who peppered two experts with questions at a 2003 murder trial, making nearly as many inquiries as the defense, acted within his bounds and did not take on the appearance of an advocate, a unanimous Manhattan appeals court has ruled in denying a defendant a new trial.
Sherman Adams argued he was deprived of a fair trial because Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Edwin Torres, who is now retired, “took over” his attorney’s line of questioning of two gunshot-residue experts who were prosecution witnesses. Their combined testimony spanned 70 pages of the transcript, and Torres’ questions appeared on 44 of those pages.
