Opinion ID: 2615930
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 12

Heading: Remarks of Prosecutor

Text: Defendants' final point on appeal alleges the trial court erred in overruling the defense motion for mistrial based upon remarks made by the prosecutor during closing argument. The remark in question was: You have an overwhelming amount of evidence. One of the strongest cases I've ever had the luck to be a part of. The often stated general rule regarding improper questions or statements made by the prosecutor is that before an objectionable question or statement made by the prosecutor will entitle the accused to a reversal of his conviction it must first appear that it was injurious to him and was likely to affect the jurors to his prejudice. State v. King, 219 Kan. 508, 548 P.2d 803 (1976); State v. Kane, 218 Kan. 13, 542 P.2d 335 (1975); State v. Murrell, 215 Kan. 10, 523 P.2d 348 (1974); State v. Gauger, 200 Kan. 515, 438 P.2d 455 (1968). In Murrell and Kane, we also recognized that the trial judge is more clearly able to judge the impact of a prosecutor's statement on the jury than are the members of this court. Where the trial judge has pointed out the error to the jury regarding statements made by the prosecutor, we have also found no reversible error. State v. Kane, 218 Kan. at 16; State v. Johnson, 216 Kan. 445, 532 P.2d 1325 (1975); State v. Warbritton, 215 Kan. 534, 527 P.2d 1050 (1974). In the present case, the court, after proper objection from defense counsel, ruled that the prosecutor's personal opinion would be stricken from the argument. In addition, the court had earlier instructed the jury that statements made by counsel were not to be considered as evidence. Defendant has relied on the case of United States v. Grunberger, 431 F.2d 1062 (2d Cir.1970), in which remarks of a similar nature were found to have been improper and an aid in the court's finding of reversible error. There, the court stated: Each case must be scrutinized on its particular facts to determine whether a trial error is harmless error or prejudicial error when viewed in the light of the trial record as a whole, not whether each isolated incident viewed by itself constitutes reversible error.... (p. 1069.) The court noted that the issues were close and the government's case was not particularly strong. The court felt the prosecutor's remark, coupled with other improprieties, indicated the defendant had not received an impartial trial. The present case against defendants is not based upon weak evidence and we find no errors that would indicate defendants did not receive a fair and impartial trial. We find the statement made by the prosecutor was not injurious to defendants and prejudice did not result which might constitute reversible error. The judgment of the trial court is affirmed.