A judge can ignore the law just as well as any other person, and they can ignore it without seeming to, better, perhaps, than could your typical jury member. However, most judges act more professionally than do most jurors, I would think. At any rate, in the end, both judges and juries can be swayed by popular belief, personal motives, and downright ignorance. As such, I believe serious decisions should be left to a representative sample of that society; after all, the laws in question are agreed upon by that society.