Opinion ID: 1589788
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Argument outside the record

Text: ¶ 113. Goff contends that the State committed misconduct during closing argument when it argued that the only way that the blood could have gotten on the back of Goff's shirt was if Goff had slashed and beaten Brandy. Goff asserts that the prosecutor's argument was unsupported by the record for three reasons: (1) in his statement to police, Goff explained that the blood on the shirt resulted from his lying on Brandy's body after he discovered her murdered in the motel room; (2) no witness testified as to how the blood may have gotten on the back of Goff's shirt; and (3) when asked about what appeared to be droplets of blood on the back of the shirt, Investigator Smith did not agree with the prosecutor's assessment, stating that the marks were merely smaller stains. ¶ 114. During its closing argument, the prosecution argued: BY THE DISTRICT ATTORNEY: ... [F]irst off, the shirt. You can bring the shirt up, please. This is his shirt. Just look at the stain on this shirt. She told you there were droplets. Droplets. All right. These are where the buttons are missing. Does that look like what you would get by laying on somebody? Now, I know he says he was there for an hour and a half, we're going to talk about that in a minute. But that's a lot of blood, members of the jury. That's a lot of blood. Could you flip to the back, please, sir? The back of the shirt, look at these droplets. That is blood in motion. That is this. (Motioned with arm in a slashing motion.) That's how that gets there. That ain't laying on top of her. How do you get blood on the back of a shirt if you're laying on top of a girl? What did he do? Lay on her and waddle on the back, too? Please. Please. It makes no sense. Use your common sense. That shirt right there tells you, he killed her. ¶ 115. The purpose of a closing argument is to fairly sum up the evidence. Rogers v. State, 796 So.2d 1022, 1027 (Miss.2001). The prosecutor should point out those facts presented by the State on which the prosecution contends a verdict of guilty would be proper. Clemons v. State, 320 So.2d 368, 371 (Miss.1975). ¶ 116. This Court has stated that [a]n impassioned argument is not in itself an improper argument. Furthermore, the prosecutor, as any other counsel, is free to recall and comment on testimony offered in evidence and to draw inferences. [The prosecutor] may comment upon any facts introduced into evidence. He may draw whatever deductions seem to him proper from these facts.... Bell v. State, 725 So.2d 836, 851 (Miss.1998). ¶ 117. We find that the prosecutor referred to a piece of validly admitted evidence, the bloody shirt and drew a reasonable inference therefrom; and therefore the prosecutor's statement was permissible. Id. at 851. As such, this assignment of error is without merit.