People v. Velazquez

Defendant was found guilty after a bench trial of predatory criminal sexual assault of a child and was sentenced to six years in prison. On appeal, defendant argued that the State failed to prove him guilty beyond a reasonable doubt and that the trial judge improperly dominated the witnesses and the proceedings in a manner that rendered the verdict fundamentally unfair. The appellate court reversed and remanded, finding that while a rational trier of fact could have reasonably concluded that defendant was guilty, the trial court judge acted arbitrarily and capriciously, resulting in a fundamentally unfair verdict. The appellate court noted that the judge sat in the jury box throughout the trial, posed hundreds of questions to the witnesses, stood close to the witnesses while they were testifying, and suggested that key defense witnesses were lying. (C.A. WALKER and GAMRATH, concurring)