Opinion ID: 2459991
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: State's Opening Statement

Text: Hutchison's second unpreserved point on appeal is that the trial court should have ordered sua sponte a mistrial due to a series of allegedly improper comments made by the prosecutor during opening statements. Specifically, Hutchison complains of the comments that the victims were found on a farm road near a small German community of hardworking farming people; that the mother of the victims had to make funeral arrangements on New Year's Day while other mothers were welcoming their families into their homes, getting their dinners ready, black-eyed peas, people making New Year's resolutions to lose weight, be kinder to your kids ...; that the bodies of the victims were dumped like trash on the side of the road; that the first shot to the head of the Ronald Yates wasn't good enough for these defendants; that Ron Yates was sprawled out there like Christ crucified on the cross on that roadway; and that in taking a bus to Arizona, these defendants are already running, ladies and gentlemen. My grandpa says, `the guilty are fleeing when none pursue.' That's what he used to say. They're already fleeing and there's no police pursuing them yet. They are high-tailing it out of town. We find no manifest injustice or miscarriage of justice resulted from these opening statements. This is especially true because the prosecutor's comments were supported by the evidence at trial, White v. State, 939 S.W.2d 887, 902 (Mo. banc 1997), cert. denied, ___ U.S. ___, 118 S.Ct. 365, 139 L.Ed.2d 284 (1997); the trial court instructed the jury at the outset of trial that opening statements were not to be considered evidence, State v. George, 921 S.W.2d 638, 644 (Mo.App.1996); and in light of the fact that the impact of an opening statement diminishes after introduction of evidence, instructions, and closing argument. Although the reference to Ronald Yates as sprawled out there like Christ crucified on the cross is offensive, it is inconceivable that the jury would have confused the victim with Jesus Christ or would have been unduly affected by this statement. Because we find no manifest injustice or miscarriage of justice, we do not review for plain error. State v. Simmons, 955 S.W.2d 729 (Mo. banc 1997); State v. Roberts, 948 S.W.2d 577 (Mo. banc 1997); State v. Clemons, 946 S.W.2d 206 (Mo. banc 1997), cert. denied, ___ U.S. ___, 118 S.Ct. 416, 139 L.Ed.2d 318 (1997); State v. Brown, 902 S.W.2d 278 (Mo. banc 1995), cert. denied, ___ U.S. ___, 116 S.Ct. 679, 133 L.Ed.2d 527 (1995). Point denied.