Opinion ID: 1711335
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: did the trial court err in refusing to grant a mistrial after the assistant district attorney called the defendant a danger to society?

Text: ¶ 15. Sullivan alleges that Assistant District Attorney Robert Helfrich prejudiced the jury against him when he referred to him as a danger to society. As discussed in the previous issue, the trial court has discretion in determining whether the inflammatory or prejudicial nature of the prosecutor's statement is significant enough to warrant granting the defendant's motion for a mistrial. See Hoops, 681 So.2d at 528. Sullivan relies on two cases addressing the issue of prosecutorial discretion; however, neither of these cases are very similar in fact to the situation in the case at bar. First, Sullivan cites Griffin v. State, 557 So.2d 542 (Miss.1990), in which this Court concluded that the prosecutor's name-calling, gratuitous insult and unnecessary inflammatory comment, repeated expressions of outrage... prevented the jury from rendering an unbiased decision. In Griffin, this Court emphasized the cumulative effect of several improper acts and very clearly viewed the incidents in the aggregate. See id. at 553. The other case on which Sullivan relies is Ruttley v. State [2] , in which the prosecutor brought the victim's severed hands in a jar into the courtroom. 746 So.2d 872 (Miss.Ct.App. 1998). The alleged prosecutorial misconduct in this case is not nearly as severe as that in Ruttley, and the evaluation of prejudice is a question of severity. See Hoops, 681 So.2d at 528. ¶ 16. There is no precedent supporting the Sullivan's claim that a single inappropriate statement by the prosecutor is grounds for a new trial. The defense attorney objected to the statement-you're a danger to society-and the judge sustained the objection and instructed the jury to disregard the statement. The trial court followed the accepted procedure for addressing such a statement with the jury. See Hoops, 681 So.2d at 528. This issue is without merit.