Two District Court judges were forced to excuse themselves from cases yesterday.
A prosecution blunder which resulted in prejudicial information being disclosed caused Judge Andrew Chung to withdraw from a deception trial.
And Judge Peter Surman stepped down from a firearms case after discovering that his son, barrister Giles Surman, was appearing for the defence.
In the first instance, defence lawyer Maurice Tracy applied for Judge Chung to step down after prosecutor Richard Turnbull had disclosed highly prejudicial material last week during an application to vary bail.
Mr Tracy said the disclosure was fundamental to the issue the judge had to decide and it would be difficult for him to approach that question with an open mind.
But senior assistant Crown Counsel Mr Turnbull opposed the application, saying a judge was professionally trained and should be able to direct himself to exclude from his mind prejudicial material.