Motion for new trial

“ IV. Motion for New Trial As to the motion for a new trial, this court has frequently expressed its concern and uncertainty about the standard to be applied in view of what appears to be the inconsistencies and ambiguities engendered by cases decided by various panels of the Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit. ”

“ It is not imperative that a motion for a new trial of an indictment for murder based on newly discovered evidence be granted, even though the evidence is newly discovered, and, if presented to a jury, would justify a different verdict. ”

“ Under these statutes, as at common law, the court, upon the hearing of a motion for a new trial, may, in the exercise of its judicial discretion, either absolutely deny the motion, or grant a new trial generally, or it may order that a new trial be had unless the plaintiff elects to remit a certain part of the verdict, and that, if he does so remit, judgment be entered for the rest. ”

“ Of course, if the ground of the motion for a new trial is for insufficient evidence, or for excessive damages, the bill of exceptions or case for the appeal must contain a statement of all the evidence offered and received on the trial, because it must bring to the general term all the material necessary to enable it to act upon the appeal precisely as the judge at special term acted upon the motion. ”

“ A petition for rehearing is no more significant than a motion for a new trial, which, as well settled, presents no question for review in this court. Further, it would be strange if a case could be submitted on certain testimony and decided, and then the defeated party could, by motion for a new trial or petition for rehearing, compel the striking out of a part of that testimony, and thus a retrial of the case. ”

“ But none of these cases declare that an extraordinary motion is not available in a proper case for granting a new trial when the objection is to the panel. On the contrary, several factors indicate that the trial judge and the appellate court have the same degree of discretion in the 'array' cases as in cases involving individual jurors. ”

“ Undoubtedly, in ordinary cases, a new trial cannot be granted by the court below, except for good cause, and in the exercise of its sound judgment, and it is not within its power, in entering the judgment of the supreme court, to award a new trial ”

“ As judgment can be arrested only for errors appaparent on the record, we should feel no difficulty in certifying our opinion of the insufficiency of these on that ground, were we not persuaded that from some inattention, the questions which arise properly on a motion for a new trial, have been stated by the clerk as a motion in arrest of judgment, and that the same points, if undecided now, will recor when judgment is about to be pronounced. In a criminal case especially, we think it proper to decide the question on its real, as well as technical merits. ”

“ It is true that motions to grant a new trial, upon the ground that the verdict is against the weight of the evidence, are, in a certain sense, addressed to the discretion of the court, and can be more satisfactorily dealt with by the judge who tried the cause, and who had the opportunity of seeing the witnesses and hearing them testify. ”

“ Every man sees that the jury is but a troublesome delay, great charge, and of no use in determining right and wrong, and therefore the trials by them may be better abolished than continued; which were a strange new-found conclusion, after a trial so celebrated for many hundreds of years. ”

“ The jury are bound to consider it in that light, unless they are invested with authority to disregard the rules of evidence, by which the liberty and estate of every citizen are guarded and supported. No judge would hesitate to set aside their verdict and grant a new trial, if, under such circumstances, without any rebutting evidence, they disregard it. ”

“ It is quite different where the purpose of the new constitutional standard proscribing the use of certain evidence or a particular mode of trial is not to minimize or avoid arbitrary or unreliable results but to serve other ends. In these situations the new doctrine raises no question about the guilt of defendants convicted in prior trials. ”

“ Should the conclusion of the jury upon the weight of evidence be never so absurd, still it is the peculiar province of the jury to weigh that evidence, and to draw their own independent inferences from it; and the only legitimate corrective is to be found in the award of a new trial, or by a case agreed, or a demurrer to evidence. ”

“ The jury, taking the law as given by the court, apply that law to the facts as they find them to be, and express their conclusions in the verdict. The power of the court to grant a new trial if, in its judgment, the jury have misinterpreted the instructions as to the rules of law, or misapplied them, is unquestioned, as also when it appears that there was no real evidence in support of any essential fact. ”

“ Courts are not inclined to grant a new trial merely on account of ambiguity in the charge of the court to the jury, where it appears that the complaining party made no effort at the trial to have the point explained. ”

“ We think the court erred in holding, as matter of law, that the jury were not at liberty, under any view of the facts, to find for the defendants. It seems to us that a verdict in their favor would not have been so palpably against the evidence as to have made it the duty of the court to set it aside and grant a new trial. ”

“ That court, in a death case, is empowered by statute to order a new trial for errors of law, or if the conviction is found to be 'against the weight of evidence', or if the court is satisfied for any reason whatever 'that justice requires a new trial'. ”

“ Daniel, itself distinctly recognizes, as one of the grounds for awarding new trial at law out of chancery-'the discovery of new evidence, relevant to a point not put in issue, for want of proof to sustain it.' The true meaning of 'putting in issue,' was either mistaken by the court, or the true ground of decision is misstated. ”

“ Although we conclude that respondent's demand for a jury trial was rightly denied, there must be a new trial because of the prejudicial restriction, by the trial judge, of cross-examination by respondent. The testimony of five prosecution witnesses was the sole evidence of the acts of respondent relied on to establish the doing of business without a license. ”

“ Even where it finds that the jury could 'reasonably credit the denial of the police', if it considers that the prosecution had failed to produce all reasonably available evidence to clear charges of coercion, it will order 'a new trial, where there can be a more adequate search for the truth.' People v. ”

“ Discovery by the judge during the trial that 'one or more members of a jury might be biased against the Government or the defendant' has been held to warrant discharge of the jury and direction of a new trial. ”

“ And as the trial drags its course, with each new link in the evidence seeming to forge a chain that is gradually drawing closer around the wretched being who stands before you in the dock, the intensity of the situation becomes so great and so strained that one is almost tempted to believe that the whole world is awaiting that one word from the lips of the jury which shall set him free once more or send him to his doom. ”

“ As the incompetent evidence admitted against the defendant's exception bore upon one of the principal issues on trial, and tended to prejudice the jury against the defendant, and it cannot be known how much the jury were influenced by it, its admission requires that the judgment be reversed, and the case remanded to the supreme court of the state of Washington, with directions to set aside the verdict and to order a new trial. ”

“ It is now a settled rule in the courts of the United States that whenever, in the trial of a civil case, it is clear that the state of the evidence is such as not to warrant a verdict for a party, and that if such a verdict were rendered the other party would be entitled to a new trial, it is the right and duty of the judge to direct the jury to find according to the views of the court. Such is the constant practice, and it is a convenient one. It saves time and expense. It gives scientific certainty to the law in its application to the facts and promotes the ends of justice. ”

“ The right also serves broader interests:
'The Speedy Trial Clause protects societal interests, as well as those of the accused. The public is concerned with the effective prosecution of criminal cases, both to restrain those guilty of crime and to deter those contemplating it. Just as delay may impair the ability of the accused to defend himself, so it may reduce the capacity of the government to prove its case. ”

“ From these considerations it follows that the only question which we are called upon to determine is whether, after a regular conviction and sentence, a suggestion of a then existing insanity is made, it is necessary, in order to constitute due process of law, that the question so presented should be tried by a jury in a judicial proceeding surrounded by all the safeguards and requirements of a common-law jury trial, and even although by the state law full and adequate administrative and quasi judicial process is created for the purpose of investigatiing the suggestion. ”

“ This, however, overlooks the fact that as a preliminary to a new trial it must first be determined whether any of Mazzei's collateral testimony, now drawn in question, so reflects upon the truthfulness or credibility of his trial testimony as to warrant submission of the case to a new jury. That preliminary determination has always been recognized as the function of the trial court. ”

“ But we do not grant a new trial because of one circumstance which seems to us controlling. As we have noted, though an exception was taken to the prosecutor's comment on petitioner's refusal to testify, it was later withdrawn. And when the court invited counsel to bring to its attention any objections or requests to charge, counsel did not renew the objection. Nor was any request made to charge the jury on the matter. ”

“ Certainly to fix the place of trial at a point where litigants cannot compel personal attendance and may be forced to try their cases on deposition, is to create a condition not satisfactory to court, jury or most litigants. Nor is it necessarily cured by the statement of plaintiff's counsel that he will see to getting many of the witnesses to the trial and that some of them 'would be delighted to come to New York to testify.' There may be circumstances where such a proposal should be given weight. ”

“ It is inconceivable that any court of justice in the land, conducted as our courts are, open to the public, would permit prosecutors serving in relays to keep a defendant witness under continuous cross examination for thirty-six hours without rest or sleep in an effort to extract a 'voluntary' confession. Nor can we, consistently with Constitutional due process of law, hold voluntary a confession where prosecutors do the same thing away from the restraining influences of a public trial in an open court room. ”

“ The alternate path which we take today leads to trial of separate essential parts of criminal prosecutions by commissions, by executive agencies, by legislative committees. Farming out pieces of trials to investigative agencies is fragmentizing the kind of trial the Constitution authorizes. It prejudices the ultimate trial itself ”

“ He will please a patient and long suffering public and will satisfy the ends of the justice which he administers when he makes the lawyers quit trifling and forces them to let the trial go on. We may expect to see the trial made as tedious and as costly in time and money as high priced counselors can arrange. It is all part of the game—tire out the public, the jury and the prosecution; delay is the safest course for the man accused against whom the people’s case is strong. But we may also expect to see Judge Lawlor trimming the matter of technicalities and pressing it to a conclusion. ”

“ This conviction must influence his conduct of the case. “Quel homme est assez Dieu pour rendre la Justice” under these conditions? Many Frenchmen have been of the opinion for a long time that the procedure of a French criminal trial needs reformation. Many consider that the judge’s preliminary interrogatory of the prisoner and of the witnesses should be entirely suppressed, and should give place to examination and cross-examination by prosecuting counsel and the counsel for the defence. ”

“ Nothing can eradicate it. It is a fact,—an existing condition, which the court must inevitably take into consideration in determining his course of conduct upon the bench. By this it is not meant that a judge should be either counsel for the defendant or district attorney, nor that he should force his ideas upon the jury, but simply that to be effective he must be more than a nonentity, a mere law book, or an ornament, must guide the course of the trial, and, in default of its being done by the counsel on either side, test by his questions the truth or falsity of the testimony. ”

“ While this practice may be useful in enabling the trial court to rule on a defense motion for production to it of grand jury testimony-and we do not disapprove it for that purpose-it by no means disposes of the matter. Trial judges ought not to be burdened with the task or the responsibility of examining sometimes voluminous grand jury testimony in order to ascertain inconsistencies with trial testimony. ”