I wouldn't hesitate to assert that there were and are corrupt judges, but as you should know, judges don't decide cases, the People do.
This absolutely ludicrous statement can only be made by someone who knows nothing about how the criminal justice system actually works. Or a bald faced liar.
There are countless ways that a judge can control a trial to the point that the decision is taken out of the hands of the jury, either literally by dismissing a case at the close of the state's evidence, or virtually, by hamstringing the prosecution, or defense, to the point that there's only one way a jury can possibly decide it.
Most cases never reach trial. A judge can tremendously influence pretrial negotiations with pretrial rulings and pressure during pretrial conferences. Of the cases that go to trial, most never reach an intermediate court of appeals. Of the cases that reach an intermediate court of appeals, most of them are not even appealed to a state supreme court. The percentage of state criminal prosecutions that even apply for cert. to the U.S. Supreme Court is miniscule. And then, only a small fraction of a percentage that apply for cert. are heard. Of all cases that are appealed, the vast majority affirm the trial court decision.
On appeal, rulings by the trial court judge are given great deference. The appellant bears the heavy burden of establishing that the trial court judge abused the very wide discretion that he has at the trial level.
In short, if I were inclined to corruption and wanted to use the court system to promote my personal goals, the best place to do that is at the trial court level. Decisions by the Supremes usually have effects much wider than individual decisions by trial court judges, but this is overshadowed by the vastly wider opportunity that trial court judges have to influence more cases. And in virtually every case, there's something that a trial court judge can do to guarantee that one side or the other will win.
Those who would sacrifice an essential liberty for a temporary security will lose both, and deserve neither. -- Benjamin Franklin
We see monsters where science shows us windmills. -- Phat
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