Opinion ID: 1943871
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Curtailing Defendant's Final Argument

Text: During his opening statement, the prosecutor outlined for the jury certain testimony that he expected it would hear from the witnesses he intended to call to the stand during the trial. He told the jurors that they would hear from, among other witnesses, a certain jailhouse informant named John Brown. According to the prosecutor, Brown was expected to testify that, while Perry was incarcerated at the Adult Correctional Institutions (ACI) with Brown, Perry [b]asically couldn't keep his mouth shut, was talking about the incident, was talking about, on that note, how he `smoked that nigger,' how he shot him with his automatic, why, he can't understand that he is being charged with murder because the guy didn't die that night. Although the state actually brought Brown into the courtroom (outside the presence of the jury) in preparation for calling him to the witness stand during its direct case, he apparently balked at testifying and was never called as a prosecution witness. And even though the trial justice suggested that Brownmay have refused to testify because he felt intimidated by supporters of the defense, the record does not reveal why the state decided not to call him as a witness. During his closing argument, Perry's attorney alluded to Brown's failure to testify as follows: Think about what the state promised you in its opening statement. The state promised you at the end of the opening statement you would hear some of that testimony about this Tim Kelly. They said, `[y]ou are going to hear it in Rodney's own mouth through the testimony of John Brown,' they told you. At that point, however, the prosecutor objected and the court sustained the objection. Although the prosecutor moved to strike the defense's reference to Brown, that motion was neither granted nor denied. At sidebar, the prosecutor argued that Brown's testimony was not part of the state's case. He suggested that if the defense was going to get into this subject, he would be asking the court to allow him to reopen the state's case so that he could call a witness to explain why Brown did not testify. The trial justice ruled that he was not going to allow any exposition of Mr. Brown and that the jury was going to be able to go on what evidence they have, not what evidence they don't have. In doing so, he expressly relied upon Rule 16(e) of the Superior Court Rules of Criminal Procedure (precluding the parties from commenting at trial upon the fact that witnesses designated during pretrial discovery as intended witnesses have not been called upon to testify at trial). We hold that, in preventing the defendant from arguing to the jury about the prosecution's failure to call Brown as a witness, the trial justice erred. Rule 16(e) would apply here if the prosecution merely had named this witness in a discovery response under Rule 16(a)(6) as someone it expected to call at trial, but then failed to do so. If that were all that had occurred, then no defense argument could be made at trial about the state's failure to call this witness to the stand. Rule 16(e), however, does not govern a situation such as the one in the case at bar in which the prosecution has identified such a witness and described his or her expected testimony in its opening statement to the jury. The jury is not necessarily made aware of potential prosecution witnesses that are merely listed in the state's discovery responses as intended witnesses; but it is a different matter when the prosecutor tells the jury in his opening statement about one or more specific witnesses that the state will call to testify at trial and what particular testimony it expects these witnesses to provide. Thus, we have expressly stated that although defense counsel may comment on the prosecution's failure to call witnesses in a case, the prosecutor may not respond in kind. State v. LaPoint, 525 A.2d 913, 914 (R.I.1987). (Emphasis added.) We are of the opinion that, having referred to Brown's expected testimony in his opening statement and then having failed to call him as a witness, the prosecutor left himself open to the very type of unfulfilled-promises and reasonable-doubt arguments that Perry's lawyer wished to make in summing up to the jury. Although Brown may well have been too intimidated to testify, the prosecution took its chances in this regard when it not only mentioned him by name in its opening statement, but also went on to tell the jury, in graphic terms, what it expected Brown to testify about when he took the stand. Particularly memorable was the prosecutor's representation to the jury in his opening statement that Brown would testify that Perry had bragged to him in prison about how he `smoked that nigger,' how he shot him with his automatic. The failure of the prosecution to call this witness and to introduce this statement to the jury certainly was fair game for the defense to comment upon in closing argument. Thus, the trial justice's only reason for curtailing the defense's argument on this point  his misplaced reliance upon Rule 16(e)  was inappropriate. Moreover, contrary to the state's position, there is simply no evidence in the record that Brown was in fact too intimidated to testify. If this were indeed the case, then it could have put him orsomeone else on the stand and attempted to create a record on this point. In any event, the present record is simply insufficient to substantiate any suggestion that this was in fact the reason why he was not called to testify. But even if it were so, the defense was still entitled to comment upon the prosecution's failure to produce this witness, especially when his expected testimony played such a dramatic role in the prosecution's opening statement, yet it failed to call him to the stand during the trial. Nevertheless, we remain unconvinced that the trial justice's error requires us to vacate the conviction and remand this case for a new trial. Although the trial justice aborted the attempts of Perry's lawyer to argue about the significance of Brown's failure to testify there was no indication that the prosecution was guilty of bad faith in not calling Brown to the stand or that Perry suffered irremediable prejudice as a result of the prosecution's opening remarks about Brown and his expected testimony. Indeed, Perry never moved for a mistrial and he never requested any particular jury instructions from the trial justice concerning the prosecutor's unfulfilled opening remarks about Brown's expected testimony. After the state failed to call Brown as a witness and after the court had denied Perry's lawyer the opportunity to argue about Brown's nonappearance, it was incumbent upon the defense to request either one or both of these measures if Perry believed that the prosecution's opening statement about Brown's expected testimony might have proven unduly prejudicial to him. Our conclusion on this issue derives from the general rule that a prosecutor's remarks during opening statements do not constitute reversible error unless incurable prejudice is shown. State v. Micheli, 656 A.2d 980, 982 (R.I.1995). See also State v. Ware, 524 A.2d 1110, 1112 (R.I.1987) (holding defendant not incurably prejudiced by prosecution's opening statement referring to a witness who never tesitifed at trial). Here, although Brown never testified, another witness (Juan Wilson) did do so. Wilson, like Brown, had been imprisoned with Perry at the ACI, and he told the jury (as Brownwas supposed to do) that Perry had admitted to him while they were in prison together that Perry had indeed shot Lewis. Wilson also provided telling details of the crime, such as its location, Perry's motive, the defense's trial strategy, and Perry's prediction of the trial outcome. In addition, the jury heard testimony from an eyewitness to the shooting who identified Perry as the shooter. It also learned from several other witnesses about Lewis's dying declarations and his excited utterances concerning how Perry had shot him. Thus, wholly apart from Brown's failure to testify and the court's error in barring the defense from arguing about the significance of this failure, the independent evidence pointing to Perry's guilt was both compelling and overwhelming and, thus, more than sufficient to sustain the conviction. Finally, during his instructions to the jury, the trial justice admonished the jury that arguments or statements of counsel are not evidence and are not to be considered in determining the truth of the issues. Given the substantial additional evidence establishing Perry's guilt as Lewis's shooter, we hold that the trial justice's error in preventing the defense from arguing about the significance of Brown's failure to testify was not so prejudicial as to require a new trial, nor were the prosecutor's opening remarks about what it expected Brown to say at trial so prejudicial as to warrant reversal.