And because the defense are two, very, very, smart lawyers, they waited for Judge Murphy to recuse himself in a separate matter, and pounced, -- using his own actions in support of their motion!
I agree E&N are smart lawyers, but sometimes intelligence doesn't translate to wisdom - especially if you have a client whose expectation is always that he wants aggressive action and maximum publicity.
BM may have convinced himself that removing Judge M is a win for him.
The case against him is compelling. His attorneys likely have advised him that it's important to suppress as much of the evidence as possible, so the jury never sees or hears it. Judge M signed off on all the search warrants, and to BM it must seem unlikely that Judge M will suppress any evidence produced by those searches. So, he's willing to take his chances with another judge.
BM may also see motions granted as a form of scoring, as if the process was a game, and value this for that reason. But criminal cases aren't decided that way, and the general public doesn't listen to the arcane issues involved in ethics. The PR effect of the artificial drama is likely to be much less than BM hoped.
But the judge that replaces Murphy is not likely to be an overworked and inexperienced local judge who has never presided in a murder trial. The Chief Justice will appoint a retired judge who has plenty of time to get up to speed, who knows the applicable law even better than Murphy, and who has seen it all before, including the flashy tactics of defense counsel that so impress clients like BM. In the end, after all the song and dance, the compelling evidence will come in and defense counsel will have less latitude at trial than Judge Murphy would have allowed.
In the end, the smart defense attorneys will have outsmarted themselves, with the active assistance of their vainglorious, atavistic client - who has consistently mistaken the PR show for the case results.
