Opinion ID: 698644
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: George Derricott

Text: 77 During the trial, the government introduced evidence that connected a certain George Derricott with particular activities involving Constance Perry and Raynice Thompson. The prosecutor made reference to that evidence in his initial closing statement. In their closing arguments, counsel for Perry and Raynice Thompson responded by suggesting that if the alleged conduct had in fact occurred, the government would have indicted Derricott along with the other defendants. In rebuttal, the prosecutor reminded the jurors of a statement by a police officer who, in responding to a question by one of the defense counsel, testified that the police were then seeking a warrant for Derricott's arrest. The prosecutor also suggested that Derricott's indictment might have been delayed because he was part of another operation that was still under investigation. 78 Appellants contend that these rebuttal comments improperly alleged facts that were not in evidence. In this instance, however, the prosecutor's statements were made not as part of his case-in-chief but in response to defense counsel's arguments that the government's failure to indict Derricott impeached its case-in-chief. In order to rebut the inference drawn by them, the prosecutor suggested reasons other than Derricott's innocence for the government's failure to indict him. See XIV J.A., 3/30/90 Tr. at 22 (maybe Mr. Derricott's name wasn't in the indictment for a specific reason, maybe). As the Supreme Court pointed out in United States v. Young, a prosecutor's remarks must be examined within the context of the trial to determine whether [his] behavior amounted to prejudicial error. 470 U.S. 1, 12, 105 S.Ct. 1038, 1044, 84 L.Ed.2d 1 (1985). Here, the question of whether Derricott had been indicted was introduced by defense counsel and, as the district court noted, [t]he prosecutor's remarks 'did no more than respond substantially in order to right the scale.'  Childress, 746 F.Supp. at 1133 (quoting Young, 470 U.S. at 12-13, 105 S.Ct. at 1045).