IT IS REVERSIBLE ERROR FOR A JUDGE TO NEGOTIATE A PLEA DEAL WITH A CODEFENDANT IN EXCHANGE FOR TESTIMONY AGAINST THE DEFENDANT (FOURTH DEPT).

The Fourth Department, reversing defendant’s conviction, determined the trial judge should not have negotiated a plea deal with a codefendant in exchange for testimony against the defendant:

… [T]he court committed reversible error when it “negotiated and entered into a [plea] agreement with a codefendant[,] requiring that individual to testify against defendant in exchange for a more favorable sentence” … . Here, “by assuming the function of an interested party and deviating from its own role as a neutral arbiter, the trial court denied defendant his due process right to [a] fair trial in a fair tribunal’ ” … . We therefore reverse the judgment and grant a new trial before a different justice on counts one and two of the indictment … . People v Lawhorn, 2019 NY Slip Op 09223, Fourth Dept 12-20-19