Opinion ID: 1977910
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Homicidal Predator Remark

Text: In Appellant's last guilt-phase claim, he argues that he is entitled to a new trial because the prosecutor referred to him on two instances as a homicidal predator in his summation. Appellant submits that the prosecutor thus impermissibly interjected his personal opinion into the proceedings in an effort to unfairly prejudice him. According to Appellant, the prosecutor's characterization had the unavoidable effect of forming a fixed bias against him in the jurors' minds, thus preventing them from objectively weighing the evidence. The Commonwealth responds that the prosecutor's comments were within the permissible bounds of oratorical flair in light of the evidence that Appellant's .44 caliber revolver was a particularly powerful firearm. The Commonwealth also references Commonwealth v. Miles, 545 Pa. 500, 681 A.2d 1295 (1996), in which this Court found analogous references to predatory behavior on the part of criminal defendants to have been permissible. See id. at 513-14, 681 A.2d at 1301-02. The Commonwealth further contends that, considering that there were only two complained-of characterizations in the argument, and in light of the overwhelming evidence of Appellant's guilt, he would not be entitled to relief even if the remarks were to be deemed improper. Prosecutors are permitted to comment on the evidence or appropriate inferences from it, and to employ oratorical flair in their arguments. See Commonwealth v. Hawkins, 549 Pa. 352, 373-74, 701 A.2d 492, 503 (1997). Further, this Court has imposed on defendants the obligation to demonstrate that actions challenged as prosecutorial misconduct had the unavoidable effect of undermining the neutrality of the jury so as to preclude the rendering of a true verdict. See Commonwealth v. Fletcher, 580 Pa. 403, 434, 861 A.2d 898, 916 (2004) (quoting Commonwealth v. Stokes, 576 Pa. 299, 306, 839 A.2d 226, 230 (2003)). Consistent with the Miles decision referenced by the Commonwealth, the prosecutor's comments in this case were not improper. In Miles, the prosecutor compared codefendants to a pack of predatory animals, an image which the Court found to be consistent with the evidence, and thus, reasonably employed. See Miles, 545 Pa. at 513-14, 681 A.2d at 1301-02. Additionally, the Court observed that comments characterizing defendants as a murdering, child-killing, backshooting trio, and as slaughterers and executioners previously had been deemed proper. See id. (citing and quoting Commonwealth v. Jones, 530 Pa. 591, 617, 610 A.2d 931, 943 (1992)). Viewed in such context, the prosecutor's argument in this case appears to have been restrained. [4] Moreover, as the Commonwealth explains, the prevailing standard requires a defendant raising a claim of prosecutorial misconduct to demonstrate substantial prejudice. Here, we sustain the trial court's determination that Appellant failed to point to prejudice of such degree. See Kennedy, No. CP-51-CR-0310461-2003, slip op. at 14 (Nothing else of record suggests that these two references rendered the jury incapable of determining the facts that, as was discussed above, overwhelmingly supported the defendant's guilt of first degree murder.).