Opinion ID: 1993109
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: motion for clarification of opinion and/or rehearing en banc

Text: Although completely successful on the merits of this appeal, the State has moved for clarification of the principal opinion, and/or a rehearing en banc, asserting that our disapproval of the use of the term victim in Jackson's trial results in a banning of the use of the word victim. The State's position reflects an overreactive misreading of that portion of the opinion. As the principal opinion makes clear, Jackson's claim of error was directed to permitting the prosecutor to refer to the complaining witness as the victim (p. 23). The opinion does not state, nor does it imply, that the use of the term victim by witnesses, as a term of art or in common parlance, is a basis for objection. The Court's criticism was directed to a prosecutor's repeated use of the term in a case where consent was the sole defense, and the principal issue one of credibility, to suggest to the jury, that a crime necessarily had been committed. In this case, if the defense of consent were accepted by the jury, no crime would have been proven and the complaining witness would not be deemed a victim. In such cases it is incompatible with the presumption of innocence for the prosecutor to refer to the complaining witness as the victim, just as it is to refer to the defendant as a criminal. Commonwealth v. Johnson, 516 Pa. 527, 533 A.2d 994 (1987). In each instance, the use of a particular term assumes the commission of a crime. If there is no dispute that a crime has, in fact, occurred, there is no harm in referring to the existence of a victim. In a narrow range of cases, such as this, such use is clearly unwarranted. It is improper for a prosecutor to assume as a given, or to suggest to the jury, the existence of that which is in dispute. It is a practice to be avoided, but, as the opinion emphasizes, in the absence of an objection it does not constitute plain error. The motion for rehearing en banc is DENIED.