United States v. Bruce Wyatt Cassasa

Appellant Cassasa has taken this appeal from a conviction of armed robbery of a savings and loan association in Redwood City, California. We discuss five assignments of error and affirm the judgment.

1. Disqualification of Judge

Appellant was acquitted in an earlier criminal trial for a different robbery. In that trial one Kiefer, a codefendant who had plead guilty to the robbery charge, testified against appellant. The trial judge below, although not involved in appellant’s prior trial, was the sentencing judge on Kiefer’s guilty plea. At Kiefer’s sentencing hearing, the judge made the following remarks:

Appellant moved to disqualify the judge from proceeding in this case, contending that his statement at Kiefer’s sentencing hearing indicated a belief in appellant’s guilt of the earlier offense and a predisposition on the part of the judge to see that appellant did not escape punishment again. The motion was denied and that order is assigned as error.

This court recently detailed its standards for disqualification. In United States v. Azhocar, 581 F.2d 735, 739-40 (9th Cir. 1978), we held that an appellant must allege facts showing prejudice or bias stemming from an…