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State v. Thomas2/27/2004
s case heard by a particular judge, see Sinito v. United States, 750 F.2d 512, 515 (6th Cir. 1984), neither does he have the right to any particular procedure for the selection of a hearing judge, see Cruz v. Abbate, 812 F.2d 571, 574 (9th Cir. 1987), nor does he enjoy the right to have a judge selected by a random draw, see Sinito, 750 F.2d at 515. Rather, the rule appears to be an administrative rule created to ensure an even distribution of cases among the various divisions of the Shelby County Criminal Court.
Practical realities dictate the allocation of limited public resources. Accordingly, "our courts must afford public officials substantial discretion with regard to law enforcement decisions." State v. Harton, 108 S.W.3d 253, 261 (Tenn. Crim. App. 2002) (citing Bordenkircher v. Hayes, 434 U.S. 357, 364, 98 S. Ct. 663 (1978)). We recognize, however, that the classification of a defendant as a major violator and the subsequent assignment of MVU cases to one division of court implicates issues of selective prosecution and due process on the judicial assignment phase of adjudication.
The Due Process Clause imposes strict neutrality requirements on officials performing judicial or quasi-judicial functions. See Schweiker v. McClure, 456 U.S. 188, 195, 102 S. Ct. 1665 (1982). Those requirements are not applicable to those acting in a prosecutorial or plaintiff-like capacity. See Marshall v. Jerrico, Inc., 446 U.S. 238, 248, 100 S. Ct. 1610 (1980). "In an adversary system, [prosecutors] are necessarily permitted to be zealous in their enforcement of the law." Id. When prosecutorial rather than judicial functions are involved, the constitutional interests in accurate finding of facts and application of law, and in preserving a fair and open process for decision, are not to the same degree implicated. See id.
In light of the role that prosecutors play as advocates, at least two state courts have concluded that judicial assignment systems allowing prosecutors to select the judge assigned to a particular case violate due process. In State v. Simpson, 551 So.2d 1303 (La. 1989) (per curiam), the defendant filed an application for a supervisory writ seeking reassignment of his case to another judge. Noting that the prosecutor and the defense attorney had stipulated that in the Louisiana district at issue, the prosecution was allowed to select the judge who presided over criminal cases, the Louisiana Supreme Court granted the writ. The court reasoned:
To meet due process requirements, capital and other felony cases must be allotted for trial to the various divisions of the court, or to judges assigned criminal court duty, on a random or rotating basis or under some other procedure adopted by the court which does not vest the district attorney with power to choose the judge to whom a particular case is assigned.
Id. at 1304 (footnotes omitted). The Simpson court based this conclusion on the concept that " ue process of law requires fundamental fairness, i.e., a fair trial in a fair tribunal." Id. (citing Turner v. Louisiana, 379 U.S. 466, 85 S. Ct. 546, 13 L.Ed.2d 424 (1965); State v. Mejia, 250 La. 518, 197 So.2d 73 (1967)). The court noted decisions from other jurisdictions concluding that courts may utilize different methods of assigning criminal cases to judges, but observed that these decisions do not stand for the proposition that the prosecutor may assign cases to the judge of his or her choice. Id. at 1304 n.3.
In an earlier decision, a New York state court took a similar approach. In McDonald v. Goldstein, 191 Misc. 863, 83 N.Y.S.2d 620 (N.Y. Sup. Ct. 1948), the court rejected a district attorney's challenge to an o
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