Opinion ID: 2360649
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Prejudicial Sentencing Comment

Text: Greene next contests a comment made by the prosecuting attorney regarding the potential for Greene's release should he be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. The sequence of events and the colloquy between the judge and counsel follows: DEFENSE COUNSEL: He's exhibited remorse for the death of Sydney Burnett.... I think Mr. Wilson argued that, Well, he's in prison over this thing now. Well, he's in prison. He's not getting out. He's never getting out of Tucker Maximum Security Unit at Tucker, Arkansas. PROSECUTOR: Judge, I'm going to object to that. That's misleading to the Jury. THE COURT: The Jury has heard the evidence. If Counsel misquotes the evidence, they can disregard it. PROSECUTOR: I'm talking about the situation about not getting out of the penitentiary. That's not the law and it's misleading. THE COURT: Well, I'll sustain that. PROSECUTOR: Thank you, sir. DEFENSE COUNSEL: Well, I would submit then that the only way he would ever get out would be a Governor's Pardon, if that helps Mr. Prosecutor Wilson. PROSECUTOR: It doesn't. The law is clear that he may be released pursuant to commutation, pardon or reprieve of the Governor. THE COURT: That's correct. PROSECUTOR: Thank you, sir. Greene's counsel made no objection to this colloquy but now contests the prosecutor's summary of the law for the first time on appeal. As authority, counsel cites Wicks v. State, 270 Ark. 781, 606 S.W.2d 366 (1980), and directs our attention to the exception to our contemporaneous rule relating to a trial court's duty to intervene and correct a serious error. Absent the trial court's intervention, Greene claims that he was highly prejudiced. We disagree that the trial court had a duty to step in under Wicks , because in our view no serious error was made. Indeed, the prosecutor correctly quoted the law. The apposite statute reads: A person sentenced to life imprisonment without parole shall be remanded to the custody of the Department of Correction for imprisonment for the remainder of his life and shall not be released except pursuant to commutation, pardon, or reprieve of the Governor. Ark.Code Ann. § 5-4-606 (Repl.1997). This point has no merit.