It affects the fairness of the process. If you're going to have a procedure under the guise of ensuring fairness, you might as well try to make it actually fair. In this case, one side was being argued more than the other, and by some of the same people who are judging the case.
This is actually a problem common in American Media.
You may not appreciate this, but just because two arguments exist does not mean they are equally worthy of time. We aren't Fox News, and I'd rather we not try to be.