Opinion ID: 1908635
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Alleged Misstatement of the Evidence.

Text: Next, appellant Landon contends that the prosecutor misstated the evidence in her opening statement and closing argument when she identified Landon as the man who drove the Blazer out of the gas station and followed Cherrico and Moctar into Cherrico's apartment. As an example of the types of statements to which Landon ascribes error, the prosecutor offered the following narrative in her closing argument: Ralph Cherrico, in an effort to stay alive, in an effort to survive, convinces Moctar to let him go to his apartment.... They drive there, ladies and gentlemen, and Ralph Cherrico describes the driver of the Blazer as a tall, dark-skinned person. The person who has to be Bernard Landon. Landon maintains that there was no evidence that he drove the Blazer. Counsel for Landon did not object at either time, so we review the alleged misstatements for plain error. [22] See Harris v. United States, 602 A.2d 154, 159 (D.C. 1992) (en banc); Thacker v. United States, 599 A.2d 52, 59 (D.C.1991). We start by determining whether the prosecutor's statements were improper. Harris, supra, 602 A.2d at 159; Thacker, supra, 599 A.2d at 61. In the opening statement, a prosecutor may summarize evidence he or she reasonably expects to present, even if at trial the evidence does not unfold precisely as expected. See Frazier v. Cupp, 394 U.S. 731, 736, 89 S.Ct. 1420, 22 L.Ed.2d 684 (1969). Closing argument may elicit reasonable inferences from the evidence presented, although it may not present new evidence or rely on evidence that has not been presented. Morris v. United States, 564 A.2d 746, 750 (D.C.1989). As for the opening statement, the prosecutor could reasonably expect to present testimony placing Landon in the Blazer. Landon's grandmother had testified before the grand jury that Landon admitted to her that he was in a Chevrolet during at least one of the shootings. A Blazer is a model of Chevrolet. The prosecutor could reasonably expect the grandmother to give the same testimony at trial, even though, as things turned out, she did not. See Sterling v. United States, 691 A.2d 126, 133 (D.C.1997) (When a witness' prior inconsistent statement is made under oath, it is reasonable to expect that he will repeat the testimony under oath at trial....). [23] As for the closing argument, placing Landon in the Blazer was a reasonable and even compelling inference from the totality of the testimony at trial. Landon conspired to commit the offense. Givens said he drove Moctar, Green, and a third manwhom the government argues must be Landonto the gas station, where other evidence indicates that they met McWeay and Cherrico. Barkley placed Landon at that gas station with Green. Cherrico identified Moctar as the man who commandeered the Corvette at the gas station and, eventually, shot him in the head. Givens said appellant Green got back in the Oldsmobile with McWeay and ordered him to drive to suburban Maryland. Meanwhile, as both Cherrico and Barkley testified, someone drove the mint green Blazer out of the gas station and followed the white Corvette. According to Cherrico, the Blazer followed him to his apartment and, eventually, to the alley in which Moctar shot him. The only possible driver remaining from the cast of characters would be Landon. Everyone else involved in the gas-station incident left in another vehicle, except for Barkley and Brown, who had to walk after appellant Green took the Blazer at gunpoint. The best Cherrico could remember about the driver of the Blazer was that he was a dark-skinned African American man, and Landon does not deny that he fits in this quite general category. The inference that Landon drove the Blazer might be particularly compelling because evidence collected later that night clearly linked him to that vehicle. Several hours after the principal offenses took place, Agent Cooke identified Landon as one of three occupants of the Blazer. Although all three fled on foot after Cooke gave chase, the police recovered Landon's fingerprints from the vehicle's interior and also traced the guns that had been thrown from the Blazer to the shootings of Cherrico and McWeay. In short, we do not think the trial court committed plain error, indeed any error at all, by failing to interrupt the government's opening statement and closing argument, sua sponte, when the prosecutor identified Landon as the driver of the Blazer.