Opinion ID: 1913318
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 33

Heading: did the prosecutor comment on holland's failure to testify?

Text: ¶ 147. First, Holland claims that the prosecutor commented on Holland's decision not to testify when the prosecutor stated that the forensic evidence was unquestionable. He also stated that the witness to the rape was killed and that's Krystal. There were no objections by Holland. We hold that the issue is, thus, procedurally barred. Chase, 645 So.2d at 854-55. ¶ 148. Procedural bar notwithstanding, alternatively we address the issue on the merits. The prosecutor's statement about the witness to the rape being killed is not error, but was instead a comment on the defense. In Alexander v. State, this Court upheld a prosecutor's statement about the decedent being a witness, as follows: I submit to you that the only people who know what happened in there is Stephanie Alexander and God. The other person that was in the room can't talk, she's dead. Alexander v. State, 610 So.2d 320, 339 (Miss. 1992). This Court held the statement was proper in that it referred to an argument Alexander's counsel had made regarding the whereabouts of the blood from the murder. Id. The Court permitted the State to make the statement in reference to whom was a witness in answering that question. Id. ¶ 149. Here, Holland's counsel asked the jury to consider that if Holland was preventing apprehension by killing Krystal, why then did Holland not kill the others present in the house that night. We find that the prosecutor was entitled to answer that question by stating correctly that the only witness to the crime committed was Krystal King. This statement by the prosecutor was made in direct response to defense counsel's claim that because William Boyer and Jerry Douglas were two additional witnesses who knew of the crime, the prosecution's claim that Holland murdered Krystal in an effort to avoid arrest could not be submitted to the jury. The prosecutor was simply stating that both of these people were not present during the rape and that only Krystal was there. ¶ 150. A prosecutor, arguably, may comment on forensic evidence being unquestioned. This Court reversed a judgment where the prosecutor emphasized that the State's witnesses were unquestioned in their credibility. Whigham v. State, 611 So.2d 988, 995 (Miss. 1992). There, the Court reversed because it found that the prosecutor's comments implicated Whigham's right not to testify to directly rebut the witnesses' statements. Id. at 996. In Whigham, this Court stated: Had defense counsel made this statement other than in answer to the opening argument of the State, the State might have plausible contention that he invited the closing remarks which followed, but this statement no doubt was made in response to the highly improper comments in opening argument. Id. at 995. In contrast, it is arguably difficult to see how Holland could have rebutted the forensic evidence directly, as it required expert witnesses to describe that evidence. Read broadly, however, Whigham is clearly inapplicable. The argument by the prosecutor here was made in response to closing argument by the defense. We hold that Whigham does not apply except to uphold our plausible contention that [Holland] invited the closing remarks which followed. Id.