In an opinion issued by the Colorado Court of Appeals, appellate judges found that Wilson\u2019s comments \u2013 calling the homicide \u201cone of the most cold-blooded murders that have occurred in this county\u201d \u2013 expressed bias and were grounds for recusal from the case. The comment was made at a sentencing hearing for a co-defendant, before overseeing Mitchell\u2019s trial. Defendants at the time filed a motion asking the judge to recuse himself, but Wilson disagreed.<\/p>\n \u201cThe personal beliefs of a judge as to the guilt or innocence of a defendant in a criminal jury trial is irrelevant to the issue of bias,\u201d Judge Wilson wrote in his denial of the request to recuse himself from the trial.<\/p>\n <\/p>