United States v. Neumann

Neumann (defendant) was convicted of bank robbery after the trial judge, in summarizing the evidence for the jury, pointed out that the government had presented undisputed evidence on certain elements of the crime, while still instructing jurors that they were not to substitute the judge's comments for their own factual findings. Neumann appealed, arguing the judge's comments impermissibly usurped the jury's function by expressing an opinion on his guilt as to those elements.