Law Commons^™

Caperton, Due Process, And Judicial Duty: Recusal Oversight In Patrons’ Cases, Steve Sheppard

Steve Sheppard

In celebration of the life of Judge William E. Enfield, this article discusses the necessity of granting all litigants the right to fair trials with impartial judges. Judges should recuse themselves from cases that involve conflicts of interest, which may result in partiality from the bench. However, judges do not always opt for recusal, even when their impartiality is in question. In Caperton v. A.T. Massey Coal Co., 556 U.S. 868 (2009), the Court evaluated West Virginia Supreme Court Justice Brent Benjamin’s decision not to disqualify himself from a case involving a litigant who made large contributions to his election …

The Metamorphoses Of Reasonable Doubt: How Changes In The Burden Of Proof Have Weakened The Presumption Of Innocence, Steve Sheppard

Steve Sheppard

The standard of proof beyond a reasonable doubt is commonly thought to be an important benefit to the accused. The history of the standard is much more complex and demonstrates lesser commitments to the truth and to the defendant.

This article develops the history of the reasonable doubt instruction in the United States and its English antecedents. Examining the development of the instruction in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries and its evolution through the nineteenth and twentieth, this history reveals the dual nature of the instruction. It both encapsulated a theory of knowledge and articulated a level of confidence in …