ALBANY – New York yesterday officially joined the federal courts and 40 states that allow judges to call witnesses under some circumstances, but the Court of Appeals stressed that those instances should be rare and that jurists must exercise painstaking care to avoid assuming an advocacy role.
The Court said for the first time in People v. Andre Arnold, 75, that the same rules and restrictions that would apply when a judge questions a witness called by counsel are applicable “in those unusual circumstances” where a court calls its own witness.
