Opinion ID: 433625
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Comments on Defendant's Silence at Time of Arrest.

Text: 45 In Doyle v. Ohio, supra, the Court held that a suspect who has been apprised of his rights in accordance with Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 86 S.Ct. 1602, 16 L.Ed.2d 694 (1966), is implicitly assured that his silence will not be used against him, and that the use of his resulting silence to impeach his testimony at trial is fundamentally unfair and violates the due process clause of the fifth amendment. We believe that the unfairness is even greater when, as in the instant case, the accused exercises his right to silence throughout the proceedings and does not testify in his own behalf. From the record before us, we have no difficulty in holding that the government attorney's statements concerning Barton's failure to explain to the police were such that the jury would naturally and necessarily take it to be a comment on Barton's exercise of his right to remain silent. See Knowles v. United States, supra. 46 The absence at trial of any objection to these comments does not prevent us from considering them on appeal. The magnitude of the right involved is such that the comments on Barton's post-arrest silence constitute plain error. See Deats v. Rodriguez, 477 F.2d 1023, 1024 (10th Cir.1973); United States v. Arnold, 425 F.2d 204, 206 (10th Cir.1970); United States v. Nolan, supra, 416 F.2d at 594. Accordingly, the lack of an objection may be disregarded. See Fed.R.Crim.P. 52(b). 47 Unlike the earlier comments on Barton's failure to testify, the subsequent remarks constitute a direct and unequivocal comment on the accused's exercise of his fifth amendment right to silence at the time of arrest. Moreover, there was no curative instruction from the trial court regarding Barton's right to post-arrest silence. In light of these facts, we cannot conclude that the government has met its burden of proving that the comments on Barton's silence were harmless beyond a reasonable doubt. See Chapman v. California, supra. 48 In addition, we believe that the prosecutorial comments on Barton's failure to testify, which were followed shortly by the comments on Barton's post-arrest silence, cannot be said to be harmless beyond a reasonable doubt. The prejudicial comments regarding Barton's silence at the time of his arrest tended to reinforce the prior remarks on failure to testify and to diminish the curative effect of the court's subsequent instruction. Taken as a whole, therefore, we believe that the comments of the government attorney in this case constitute reversible error.