在决斗的国家聚光灯下，法官们主持了威斯康辛州凯尔·里顿豪斯杀人案的审判，以及三名佐治亚州白人男子在1998年被杀的案件Ahmaud Arbery都表现出了他们的愤怒，因为他们一直在努力维护法庭的公平。
周三，在里顿豪斯一案中，法官们表现出了沮丧的情绪，一名明显愤怒的法官痛斥首席检察官，指责他的低级滑稽行为近乎“严重违反宪法”
纽约公设辩护律师、美国广播公司新闻撰稿人布莱恩·巴克米尔(Brian Buckmire)表示，尽管一些律师似乎在法庭上对着镜头，但两位法官都采取了行动来维护诉讼的公正性，并保护陪审团不听取与他们在这两起备受关注的案件中允许的证据无关的任何事情。
“法官非常保护陪审团，有时甚至认为这是他们的陪审团，”巴克米尔说，他也是法律与犯罪网络的主播。“你总是希望陪审团保持纯洁，只根据证据做出决定，而不是因为法官骂了律师，反之亦然。”
通过美联社标记赫茨伯格/普尔
巡回法院法官布鲁斯·S告诫助理地方检察官托马斯·宾格尔
最近一次来自法官席的愤怒表现发生在18岁的里顿豪斯作证期间，他声称自己在2020年威斯康星州基诺沙的抗议活动中开枪打死了三名男子，其中两人伤势严重。
在检察官托马斯·宾格开始对里顿豪斯进行盘问后不久，施罗德让陪审团走出法庭，然后他斥责州检察官，因为他在出庭作证前询问了这名少年对枪击事件的沉默。
施罗德警告宾格尔，他无视里顿豪斯在陪审团面前保持沉默的权利，这是“严重违反宪法”的行为。
“你就在边界线上，你可能会越过它，”施罗德说，有时对宾格大喊大叫。“但最好停下来。这是不允许的。”
在宾格尔继续提问后，他开始提出法官裁定不予采信的证据，这引发了施罗德的又一次口头抨击。施罗德在点燃宾格尔之前让陪审团再次离开法庭，辩护律师马克·理查兹指责检察官试图挑起无效审判。
宾格声称，他认为施罗德为他向里顿豪斯询问不可接受的证据留有“余地”，并在随后的听证会上告诉法官，他是“出于善意”
“诚信!我不相信你，”施罗德告诉宾格。
斯蒂芬·莫顿/美联社泳池
高等法院法官蒂莫西·沃姆斯利在审判被控..
在阿贝里案中，法官蒂莫西·沃尔姆斯利让陪审团于周二离开佐治亚州布伦瑞克的法庭，这样陪审团就不会听到他为其中一名辩护律师选择的措辞。
被告特拉维斯·麦克迈克尔的律师杰森·谢菲尔德激起了检察官琳达·杜尼可斯基的多次反对，并试图与法官争论，这引起了沃尔姆斯利的愤怒。
在谢菲尔德几次询问格林郡侦探帕克·马西(Parker Marcy)他为什么去布伦瑞克附近的萨提亚海岸(Satilla Shores)附近的一所正在建造的房子后，沃尔姆斯利停止了对谢菲尔德的询问，那里的安全视频片段记录了Arbery几次进入，据报道，在他被杀当天，一名邻居看到他离开。
池/盖蒂图像
特拉维斯·麦克迈克尔与辩护律师杰森·谢菲尔德在开幕典礼上交谈...
“通过去那里，你是想确定或试图理解，有人可能进入那个住宅，意图拿走一些东西?”谢菲尔德询问道，并向杜尼可斯基征求反对意见，称辩方试图在交叉询问期间为证人作证。
沃尔姆斯利支持反对意见，当谢菲尔德似乎试图与他争论时，他把陪审团赶出了法庭。
“我不在乎你是否喜欢我的裁决，或者是否喜欢我，但在这个法庭上，律师至少要对法庭的所作所为表现出尊重，这是不言自明的，”沃尔姆斯利说。“而你刚才的所作所为，显示出对法院在这里试图做的事情缺乏尊重，即创造一个对各方都公平的环境。”
沃尔姆斯利接着说，“我建议你花点时间考虑一下。我要离开替补席，因为我发现了这一点...我就叫它粗鲁吧。”
这时，沃姆斯利似乎对谢菲尔德的其他行为感到沮丧，他注意到律师在盘问马西时使用了一个大挂图，上面写着“闯入”一词。沃尔姆斯利告诉谢菲尔德，他的“跳起来移动板子”分散了陪审团的注意力。
“我建议你尽快减少一些，因为这在法庭上是不能容忍的，”沃尔斯利说。
一个更加柔和的谢菲尔德从休息室回来，结束了他对马西的询问。
里顿豪斯案中的法庭激斗发生在一名陪审员无意中考验施罗德的耐心一周后。
施罗德解雇陪审员在审判的第三天，陪审团成员承认他给一名副手讲了一个关于雅各布·布莱克的无味笑话，雅各布·布莱克是一名29岁的黑人，被一名基诺沙警官开枪打死并瘫痪。这起枪击事件引发了基诺沙的抗议活动，后来演变成抢劫、骚乱，最终演变成里顿豪斯实施的枪击事件。
施罗德随后向该案的律师作出了冗长的解释，称审判正在全国范围内进行电视转播，他指出，他听到一名电视新闻评论员说，“这是目前该国分歧最大的案件。”"
施罗德严肃地说:“所以，任何破坏公众对这里发生的事情的信心的事情都是非常重要的。“这对这个小镇很重要，对这个国家很重要，让人们对这次审判的结果有信心。”
Judges in Arbery, Rittenhouse cases frustrated as they work to maintain fair trials
Under the glare of dueling national spotlights, judges presiding over the Kyle Rittenhouse homicide trial in Wisconsin and the case against three white Georgia men in the death ofAhmaud Arberyhave both displayed their ire as they've struggled to maintain fairness in the courtroom.
A display of frustration boiled over from the bench in the Rittenhouse case Wednesday when a visibly angered Judge Bruce Schroeder lambasted the lead prosecutor, accusing him of low-blow antics he said bordered on a "grave constitutional violation."
Brian Buckmire, a New York public defender and ABC News contributor, said both judges have taken actions to maintain fairness in the proceedings and shield the juries from hearing anything unrelated to the evidence they've allowed in the two high-profile cases, despite some of the attorneys seeming to posture for the cameras in the courtroom.
"Judges are very protective of the jury, sometimes even considering it their jury," said Buckmire, who is also an anchor for the Law & Crime Network. "You always want the jury to be pristine, to only make decisions based on the evidence and not because a judge scolded a lawyer or vice versa."
The latest exhibit of exasperation coming from the bench occurred during the testimony of 18-year-old Rittenhouse, who claimed he shot three men, two fatally, in self-defense during a 2020 protest in Kenosha, Wisconsin.
Shortly after prosecutor Thomas Binger began his cross-examination of Rittenhouse, Schroeder had the jury marched out of the courtroom before he ripped the state's attorney for asking the teenager about his silence about the shootings prior to taking the witness stand.
Schroeder warned Binger that he was edging toward a "grave constitutional violation" by ignoring Rittenhouse's right to remain silent in front of the jury.
"You're right on the borderline, and you may be over it," Schroeder said, at times shouting at Binger. "But it better stop. This is not permitted."
After Binger resumed the questioning, he prompted another verbal lashing from Schroeder by beginning to broach evidence the judge had ruled inadmissible. Schroeder had the jury exit the courtroom again before he lit into Binger, and defense attorney Mark Richards accused the prosecutor of trying to provoke a mistrial.
Binger claimed he thought Schroeder had left the "door open" for him to question Rittenhouse about the inadmissible evidence and during a subsequent hearing told the judge he was "acting in good faith."
"Good faith! I don't believe you," Schroeder told Binger.
In the Arbery case, Judge Timothy Walmsley had the jury exit the Brunswick, Georgia, courtroom on Tuesday so the panel wouldn't hear his choice words for one of the defense attorneys.
Jason Sheffield, a lawyer for defendant Travis McMichael, garnered Walmsley's wrath by provoking multiple objections from prosecutor Linda Dunikoski and by apparently trying to argue with the judge.
Walmsley stopped Sheffield's questioning after he asked Glynn County Detective Parker Marcy several times about why he went to a house under construction in the Satilla Shores neighborhood near Brunswick, a site where security video footage had recorded Arbery entering several times and where he was reportedly seen by a neighbor leaving on the day he was killed.
"By going there, you were looking to determine or trying to understand that somebody may have entered that dwelling with the intent to take something?" Sheffield asked, soliciting an objection from Dunikoski that the defense was trying to testify for the witness during the cross-examination.
Walmsley sustained the objection, and when Sheffield appeared to try to argue with him, he sent the jury out of the courtroom.
"I don't care whether you like my rulings or not, or like me or not, but in this court, it's axiomatic that counsel show at least respect for what the court is doing," Walmsley said. "And what you just did shows a lack of respect for what the court is trying to do here, which is to create an environment which is fair to all parties."
Walmsley went on, saying, "I would suggest that you take a moment to think about that. I'm going to step off the bench because I found that ... I'll just call it rude."
By then, Walmsley seemed frustrated by other behavior by Sheffield, noting the attorney's use of a large flipchart in which he pointed to the word "break-in" during his cross-examination of Marcy. Walmsley told Sheffield his "jumping up and moving the board" was distracting to the jury.
"I would suggest that you taper some of that very quickly, because it will not be tolerated in this court," Walmsley said.
A more subdued Sheffield returned from the recess and finished his questioning of Marcy.
The courtroom fireworks in the Rittenhouse case came about a week after a juror unwittingly tested Schroeder's patience.
Schroederbooted a juroron the third day of the trial after the panelist acknowledged that he told a tasteless joke to a deputy about Jacob Blake, a 29-year-old Black man who was shot and paralyzed by a Kenosha police officer. The shooting prompted protests in Kenosha that devolved into looting, rioting and eventually the shootings that Rittenhouse committed.
Schroeder then launched into a lengthy explanation to the attorneys in the case that the trial is being televised nationwide, and he noted that he heard one TV news commentator saying that "'this is the most divisive case in the country today.'"
"So, anything that undermines public confidence in what happens here is very important," Schroeder said sternly. "It's important for this town, it's important for this country to have people have confidence in the result of this trial."
