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Justice Clarence Thomas criticized the majority opinion in a Tuesday Supreme Court ruling that he says "needlessly" expanded court precedent on trial issues.
Thomas made the argument in a concurring opinion to a unanimous decision the court released regarding the extent to which a trial judge can restrict interaction between a defendant and his attorneys during a trial recess.
The facts of the case, Villareal v. Texas, relate to the trial testimony for David Villarreal, who was defending himself against murder charges in Texas.
During the trial, Villareal's testimony was interrupted by a 24-hour overnight recess, and the judge in the case instructed Villareal's attorneys not to "manage his testimony" during the recess.
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The judge clarified, however, that the order was not a blanket restriction on Villareal's communication with his attorneys. He said they could discuss topics other than the defendant's testimony, such as possible sentencing issues.
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Villareal was ultimately convicted in the case, and his attorney's appealed the decision by arguing the judge's restrictions infringed on the defendant's Sixth Amendment right to counsel.
The case was ultimately appealed up to the Supreme Court, which ruled against the defendant's argument. The court's majority opinion, penned by Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, stated that court precedent allowed judges to restrict attorneys and their clients from discussing testimony in the middle of a trial.
What Thomas objected to, however, was that the majority opinion went on to clarify that defendants and attorneys can discuss testimony if it is "incidental to other topics," such as plea advice or strategy.
Thomas argued that clarification "needlessly expands our precedents" when existing law was more than adequate for guiding a ruling in the case.
"The trial judge’s order here complied with our precedents," Thomas wrote. "The trial judge instructed defense counsel not to 'discuss what you couldn’t discuss with [Villarreal] if he was on the stand in front of the jury,' and explained that 'you couldn’t confer with him while he was on the stand about his testimony.'"
"I am unable to join the majority opinion because it unnecessarily expands these precedents. It purports to 'announce' a 'rule' under which a defendant has a constitutional right to 'discussion of testimony' so long as that discussion is 'incidental to other topics,'" Thomas concluded.
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