Avi………..
“1. An American trial judge is more like a referee than a judge. The jury decides the verdict. the judge only relates the legal issues”
If this wasn’t the CR, I’d accuse you of watching too much television.
The vast majority of American trials are NOT jury trials. They are bench trials decided by a judge.
The right to a jury trial varies by jurisdiction but has minimum requirements such as severity of charge and penalty in a criminal case and the amount being sued for in a civil case.
Traffic, housing, divorce, custody, small claims actually make of the bulk of trials in most states and are not jury trials.
Even in jury trials, a judge can set aside the jury’s verdict.
The judge does not “relate” legal issues. The judge instructs the jury in the law when charging them before they deliberate. The attorneys are able to argue what they would like included in the jury charge, but only the judge has the authority to decide the words of the charge.