Opinion ID: 2584893
Heading Depth: 5
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Assertedly Improper Attempts to Invoke Sympathy for the Victim and Her Family

Text: Defendant claims the prosecutor committed misconduct by introducing irrelevant evidence designed to evoke sympathy for the victim and her family and friends. As with several of his other claims, in the one instance raised on appeal in which defendant had objected at trialwhen the prosecutor read the inscription on Bowie's gravestonethe trial court sustained the objection, an action sufficient to dispel any prejudice from any misconduct that might have occurred. Defendant forfeited his remaining claims by failing to object below. Even if these remaining claims had not been forfeited, we would conclude they are without merit. The question posed to Bowie's father concerning whether he participated in making funeral arrangements, to the extent it might have been irrelevant, was not so likely to evoke sympathy in the jurors that we could conclude the question was misconduct, or even if it was, that any misconduct was prejudicial. The questions asked of Bowie's friend, Victoria Boucher, were relevant for purposes other than evoking sympathy: evidence of the closeness of their relationship and Bowie's wholesome character was relevant to rebut defendant's assertion in his statements to the police that Bowie was a drug courier and to rebut the suggestion by Bessie Hodges that Bowie remained alive after April 16, 1990, but did not contact anyone concerning her whereabouts. There was no misconduct in exploring these areas with the witness.