Brumit v. State (2006)

In Brumit v. State, 206 S.W.3d 639, 644 (Tex. Crim. App. 2006), while recognizing that a plurality of the court had held in Blue that the judge's comments constituted fundamental error requiring no objection, the Court of Criminal Appeals concluded that it did not need to reach that issue because the judge's comment that an earlier case made him think that anybody who ever harmed a child should be put to death did not reflect bias, partiality, or the failure of the trial court to consider the full range of punishment, and thus did not violate due process, when the comments were made after the judge had heard extensive evidence of the defendant's repeated sexual abuse of two children, the defendant had six prior convictions for child sexual assault, and explicit evidence showed that the judge had considered the full range of punishment in sentencing the defendant to life in prison. 206 S.W.3d at 644-45. The court held, "Due process requires a neutral and detached hearing body." Id. at 645. However, "absent a clear showing of bias, a trial court's actions will be presumed to have been correct." Id.