United States v. Richardson

Phyllis Richardson (defendant) was charged with embezzlement, money laundering, and mail fraud. Throughout the complex trial, jurors submitted written questions for the judge to pose to witnesses after the parties finished their own questioning; the judge let parties privately object to questions, screened out prejudicial ones, and instructed the jury the questions were only for clarification. Richardson objected partway through, believing the questions were becoming adversarial, but the trial court overruled her objection, and she was convicted and appealed.