

Criminal Bench Trial Reversed because Judge exercised "prerogative" to not hear Closing Ar
Criminal defense attorneys are sometimes placed in the untenable position of being the only person able to advocate for a client that both the state (by a prosecutor) and the judge want to put in jail. While there is a presumption of innocence, people are human and prone to feelings, prejudices, social mores, values and ideas about the way of the world. Here, "At the conclusion of defendant's bench trial on a class B misdemeanor offense and related charges, the trial court an