Opinion ID: 3134725
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Comments by the Prosecution

Text: Defendant further argues that improper comments by the prosecution during closing argument at the second stage of sentencing require that his sentence be vacated and his case remanded for a new sentencing hearing. Defendant objected at trial to only two of these comments: the State’s remark that “[t]he defendant has forfeited his right to go to jail for society to pay for his existence” and its statement that defendant held a job that paid $25 an hour. As the State argues, defendant has waived review of the alleged errors relating to the remaining comments, to which he failed to object. See People v. Enoch , 122 Ill. 2d 176, 186 (1988). With respect to the comments to which he failed to object, defendant asserts that this court may nevertheless consider his arguments based on the plain error doctrine. Because the evidence presented at the aggravation-mitigation stage of defendant’s sentencing hearing was closely balanced, we agree with defendant that we may review the merits of his arguments concerning the State’s closing argument. See People v. Speight , 153 Ill. 2d 365, 379 (1992); People v. Carlson , 79 Ill. 2d 564, 577 (1980); People v. Green , 74 Ill. 2d 444, 454-56 (1979) (Ryan, J., concurring). After considering these arguments, we find no reversible error and, thus, also no plain error. See People v. Keene , 169 Ill. 2d 1, 17 (1995) (all plain errors are reversible errors). Among the portions of the State’s argument on which defendant bases his claim of reversible error is the State’s comment that the jury should “[s]entence the defendant to death so that he can wake up every morning and know that he is in jail for the consequences of the acts which he committed to Delinda Byrd. Let him be reminded every morning about what he did on August 13, 1979.” According to defendant, the “clear implication” from this statement was that defendant would not be executed if the jury imposed the death penalty and this improperly minimized the jury’s sense of responsibility in violation of Caldwell v. Mississippi , 472 U.S. 320, 86 L. Ed. 2d 231, 105 S. Ct. 2633 (1985). We find that this “implication” is anything but clear. At no time did the State suggest that, if the jury imposed a death sentence, that this sentence would not be executed. At most, the State’s argument that defendant would have time to think about the jury’s sentence suggests that defendant would not be put to death immediately following a verdict imposing the death penalty. We find no error based on this argument. In addition, defendant contends that the State’s argument concerning the cost of his incarceration was improper. He bases this claim of error on the State’s remark that “The defendant has forfeited his right to go to jail for society to pay for his existence.” In addition, defendant asserts that it was error for the State to comment on privileges he enjoyed in prison. The State described his life in prison as “privileged,” referred to his paying job, TV, and radio and claimed that defendant was “so eager to avoid being shackled he will hold a $25 an hour [ sic ] job to avoid being locked down and supervised.” We disagree that this argument requires that we vacate defendant’s sentence. First, we find that any error stemming from the State’s comment about society paying for defendant was cured by defense counsel’s prompt objection, the circuit court’s sustaining this objection, and its instruction to the jury to disregard argument not based on the evidence. See Kliner , 185 Ill. 2d at 159-60. With respect to the State’s remarks about defendant’s privileges, we do not interpret this argument as a comment on the cost of defendant’s incarceration. Finally, while the State’s argument that defendant was paid $25 an hour was incorrect (Skidmore testified that defendant was paid $25 a month), we do not believe that it resulted in substantial prejudice to defendant. After defendant objected to this misstatement, the circuit court stated to the jury, “Ladies and gentlemen, you have heard the evidence.” In addition, the jury was instructed that the arguments of the attorneys were not evidence and that argument not based on the evidence should be disregarded. Further, defendant argues that he was denied a fair sentencing hearing by the State’s argument about Byrd’s hopes and dreams because it distracted the jurors from the task of balancing aggravating and mitigating factors and was unsupported by evidence in the record. The prosecution argued: “Her name was Delinda Byrd. Delinda Byrd, a victim in this case. She had a life. She had hopes. She had dreams. They were taken away from her by Dennis Emerson. They were taken away from her only because he cared about nothing. Nothing, but himself. The last moments of her life were spent struggling for breath while 90 percent of her skin was being burned. Imagine her terror. Imagine her fear.   This is the defendant that did that to her, that turned her into a corpse, who took away all her hopes and dreams and took away all of what she could contribute to society and to the community, and all of what she could contribute to everyone that knew her and enriched their lives.” In People v. Howard , 147 Ill. 2d 103, 155 (1991), this court held that, at the second stage of a capital sentencing hearing, the State may introduce evidence relating to the personal characteristics of the defendant’s victim and the impact of the defendant’s crime on the victim and the victim’s survivors. See also Payne v. Tennessee , 501 U.S. 808, 825-27, 115 L. Ed. 2d 720, 735-37, 111 S. Ct. 2597, 2608-09 (1991). This court stated that such evidence is relevant to the jury’s consideration of the proper punishment for the defendant because it helps the jury to assess his moral culpability. Howard , 147 Ill. 2d at 158; see also Pasch , 152 Ill. 2d at 200. However, “arguments which are calculated to play upon the jurors’ emotions are clearly improper.” People v. Williams , 161 Ill. 2d 1, 78 (1994). We find that the State’s argument concerning Byrd was an improper appeal to the juror’s emotions. Nevertheless, we do not believe that it was so inflammatory that it denied defendant a fair sentencing hearing. In other cases involving challenges to the prosecution’s argument at the second stage of sentencing, this court has considered the effect of similar comments about the victim’s survivors and what the victims would be doing if they were alive. Terrell , 185 Ill. 2d at 512, 513 (the prosecution asked the jury to “ ‘[p]icture what it was like’ ” for the victim in her last moments of life and stated that, for the victim’s mother, what should have been a “ ‘fond memory, shining lights of her life, her fifteen-month old daughter, instead, is a tragic memory’ ”); People v. Kidd , 175 Ill. 2d 1, 41 (1996) (the prosecution asked the jury to remember the nine-year-old victim who would “ ‘never light up his grandfather’s home with his infectious smile’ ”); People v. Kokoraleis , 132 Ill. 2d 235, 285 (1989) (the prosecution argued about the victims’ rights to get married, have a family, have children, and spend time with their families). In those cases, we concluded that these comments were, in and of themselves, not so prejudicial as to deprive the defendant of a fair sentencing hearing. Terrell , 185 Ill. 2d at 513; Kidd , 175 Ill. 2d at 42; Kokoraleis , 132 Ill. 2d at 285. Likewise, in this case, we find that the prosecution’s argument about Byrd does not require reversal of defendant’s sentence. Defendant also asserts reversible error resulting from the prosecution’s argument that his exercise of his constitutional rights to appeal his convictions and sentence was an aggravating factor. Defendant bases this contention on the following portions of the State’s argument: “He is doing everything he can to prepare for this day when he is in jail. Everything he does is for himself. There is an ulterior motive in everything that he does, because he knew this day was coming.