Opinion ID: 162747
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Prosecutorial Misstatements of the Law

Text: 56 Mr. Le next complains of Mr. Macy's alleged misstatement of the importance of mitigating character evidence to the jury's decision regarding the imposition of the death penalty. Mr. Le presented twenty-four different kinds of mitigating character evidence during the sentencing phase. See O.R. vol. II, at 271-72 (Sentencing Stage Jury Instruction No. 9, listing all twenty-four mitigating factors). It is well-settled that a defendant has the right to present mitigating evidence during the capital sentencing phase of a trial and that the jury must consider such evidence before imposing the death penalty. See Eddings v. Oklahoma, 455 U.S. 104, 113-14, 102 S.Ct. 869, 71 L.Ed.2d 1 (1982). 57 Nevertheless, during closing arguments the following exchange took place: 58 Mr. Macy: We have a whole list of things that have been submitted as mitigating circumstances. The Court instructs you that mitigating circumstances are those which in fairness and mercy — get this — may be considered as extenuating or reducing the moral culpability or blame. It doesn't say anything about whether you've been a good guy in the past or anything like that. Do these circumstances extenuate or reduce the degree of moral culpability of responsibility for what he did? It's up to you to decide what are mitigating circumstances. 59 [The defense talks] about [Mr. Le] being a hard worker, a machinist, inventions, a good teacher, teaching English to Vietnamese people, good to family. Does that in any way officiate (sic) or mitigate or relieve or make any less horrible what he did to Hai and Tiffany? I submit to you they do not. He's good to his family. He's got five things on here about his family. Well, nearly everybody is good to their family. Does it make it all right to go out and murder? Does it make you less guilty when you go out and commit this kind of a crime? 60 Mr. Box[, Mr. Le's counsel]: Objection, your Honor. 61 Mr. Macy: Next, he's a devout Catholic and he mentions his age. Let me tell you something folks. Next year this man will be a year older and Hai Nguyen will be 34 years old from now until eternity. He will always be 34. I don't want to go run through all of these. I submit to you, ladies and gentlemen, there is nothing in here, nothing in that list in any way mitigates or officiates (sic) or alleviates or makes any less horrible what this man did to Hai and Tiffany on November the 12th of 1992. 62 Tr. vol. IV, at 728-30 (emphasis added). 63 Mr. Le contends that these remarks, especially the emphasized portion, were improper as suggesting that the jury should not consider mitigating evidence. The Court of Criminal Appeals concluded that Mr. Macy's comments were both irrelevant and improper: 64 The prosecutor's argument was certainly irrelevant. The question is not whether evidence in mitigation makes the defendant any less guilty, or the crime any less horrible, but whether it provides a reason why, despite those things, the defendant should not die. The argument also appears to be improper as purely personal opinion. However, the argument did not clearly tell the jurors they could not consider Le's evidence in mitigation. Le has not shown it resulted in a verdict which was not a reasoned moral response. 65 Le I, 947 P.2d at 555. In making this determination, the Court of Criminal Appeals was clearly applying federal law, and thus we review under AEDPA's deferential standard. 66 We agree with the Court of Criminal Appeals that Mr. Macy's comments were both irrelevant to the case against Mr. Le and improper as personal opinion. Further, the words of Justice Sutherland, speaking for the Supreme Court nearly seventy years ago, inform our analysis on this point: 67 The [prosecuting attorney] is the representative not of an ordinary party to a controversy, but of a sovereignty whose obligation to govern impartially is as compelling as its obligation to govern at all; and whose interest, therefore, in a criminal prosecution is not that it shall win a case, but that justice shall be done. As such, [the prosecutor] is in a peculiar and very definite sense the servant of the law, the twofold aim of which is that guilt shall not escape or innocence suffer. He may prosecute with earnestness and vigor — indeed, he should do so. But, while he may strike hard blows, he is not at liberty to strike foul ones. It is as much his duty to refrain from improper methods calculated to produce a wrongful conviction as it is to use every legitimate means to bring about a just one. It is fair to say that the average jury, in a greater or less degree, has confidence that these obligations, which so plainly rest upon the prosecuting attorney, will be faithfully observed. Consequently, improper suggestions, insinuations, and, especially, assertions of personal knowledge are apt to carry much weight against the accused when they should properly carry none. 68 Berger v. United States, 295 U.S. 78, 88, 55 S.Ct. 629, 79 L.Ed. 1314 (1935) (emphasis added). 69 Like the court in Berger, we are especially aware of the imprimatur of legitimacy that a prosecutor's comments may have in the eyes of the jury. In light of the jury's confidence that prosecutorial obligations to refrain from improper tactics will be fairly and faithfully observed, two questions arise in this case. First, did the prosecutor's comments, especially taking into account the apparent disdain for the instructions he communicated with his get this preface, constitute error? And if so, did such error render Mr. Le's trial fundamentally unfair? 70 There is little question that Mr. Macy's comments on this point were, as the Court of Criminal Appeals noted, improper and irrelevant. It is difficult to tell from the record whether the comments were intended to encourage the jury to ignore the court's instructions regarding mitigating character evidence or simply to insert his opinion as to the evidence provided by defense counsel. Through his comments, Mr. Macy may have implied that the jury had the ability to ignore the legal requirement that it must consider mitigating evidence. Moreover, Mr. Le's counsel objected to Mr. Macy's comments, and the trial court, unfortunately, failed to rule on the objection. 71 Nevertheless, a review of the record indicated that the jury was appropriately informed by the jury instructions and by closing arguments that it had to consider mitigating evidence before deciding to impose a death sentence. 8 In particular, during the guilt phase of the trial, the court informed the jury that [t]he [jury] instructions contain all rules of the law that are to be applied by you in this case, and all the rules of law by which you are to weigh the evidence and determine the facts in issue in deciding this case and in reaching a verdict. O.R. vol. II, at 218 (Instruction No. 1). The same instruction was given to the jury during the sentencing phase. See id. at 263 (Sentencing Phase Instructions). Thus, the trial court attempted to make clear that the jury was to consider no law except that contained in the jury instructions, implicitly providing the jury with guidance to ignore Mr. Macy's improper suggestion on mitigating evidence. Additionally, statements made by Mr. Le's counsel at the closing arguments of the second stage highlighted the importance to the jury of focusing on the instructions given. 9 72 Mr. Le's counsel also suggested to the jury during his closing argument that the prosecution may have misstated the law. At this point, Mr. Le's counsel told the jury that even if it found an aggravating circumstance, it need not impose a death sentence. Tr. vol. IV, at 714. Finally, Mr. Le's attorney reminded the jurors that they were required by law to consider mitigating evidence before imposing a death sentence and that it is not the prosecution that makes the law. 10 73 Accordingly, in light of the overwhelming evidence of Mr. Le's guilt and evidence of the presence of aggravating factors, because both the jury instructions and the defense counsel's argument correctly stated the law, and because Mr. Macy never explicitly and clearly misstated the law, we cannot conclude that the Court of Criminal Appeals unreasonably applied federal law regarding Mr. Le's claim that his trial was rendered fundamentally unfair. Cf. Mahorney v. Wallman, 917 F.2d 469, 473-74 (10th Cir.1990) (finding reversible error based on prosecutorial misconduct where defense counsel vigorously objected to the misstatements of the law, the legal misstatements were clear, and the evidence against the defendants was not overwhelming). Mr. Le is not entitled to relief on this argument. 74