In all jurisdictions where the issue has been raised, the authority of a court has been recognized to call any person as the court's witness on its own motion, or at the request of one of the parties in a state criminal prosecution.

A trial judge's right to call a court's witness is generally not exercised unless the court finds that material injustice would result from the failure to call the witness.

A court's refusal to call a person as its witness has been upheld not to be an abuse of the court's discretion.

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