Opinion ID: 2614563
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Appeals to Racial Prejudice During Closing Argument

Text: Given these principles, we now focus on appeals to racial prejudice during closing argument. ABA Prosecution Function Standard 3-5.8(c) (3d ed.1993) states in relevant part that prosecutors should not use arguments calculated to inflame the passions or prejudices of the jury. The 1979 commentary to that section states: Arguments that rely on racial, religious, ethnic, political, economic, or other prejudices of the jurors introduce into the trial elements of irrelevance and irrationality that cannot be tolerated. Of course, the mere mention of the status of the accused as shown by the record may not be improper if it has a legitimate bearing on some issue in the case, such as identification by race. But where the jury's predisposition against some particular segment of society is exploited to stigmatize the accused or the accused witnesses, such argument clearly trespasses the bounds of reasonable inference of fair comment on the evidence. Accordingly, many courts have denounced such appeals to prejudice as inconsistent with the requirement that the defendant be judged solely on the evidence. (Emphasis added.) Similarly, courts throughout the country have consistently condemned appeals to racial prejudice during closing argument. See, e.g., United States v. Cannon, 88 F.3d 1495, 1503 (8th Cir.1996) (reversing conviction where prosecutor twice called African-American defendants bad people and drew attention to the fact they were not from the locality); Withers v. United States, 602 F.2d 124, 124-25 (6th Cir.1979) (holding improper prosecutor's statement that [n]ot one white witness has been produced in this case that contradicts [the victim's] position in this case where black defendant charged with interstate kidnapping); Kelly v. Stone, 514 F.2d 18, 19 (9th Cir.1975) (reversing rape conviction of black defendant because during closing argument the prosecutor told the jury to [t]hink about the consequences of letting a guilty man . . . go free . . . [b]ecause maybe the next time it won't be a little black girl from the other side of the track); Miller v. North Carolina, 583 F.2d 701, 708 (4th Cir.1978) (finding error in the prosecution's blatant appeal to racial prejudice in the assertion that no white woman would consent to sexual intercourse with a black man); Brooks v. Kemp, 762 F.2d 1383, 1413 (11th Cir.1985) ( en banc ), cert. denied, 478 U.S. 1022, 106 S.Ct. 3337, 92 L.Ed.2d 742 (1986). The United States Supreme Court has stated that the United States Constitution prohibits racially biased prosecutorial arguments. McCleskey v. Kemp, 481 U.S. 279, 309 n. 30, 107 S.Ct. 1756, 95 L.Ed.2d 262, reh'g denied, 482 U.S. 920, 107 S.Ct. 3199, 96 L.Ed.2d 686 (1987) (citing Donnelly v. DeChristoforo, 416 U.S. 637, 643, 94 S.Ct. 1868, 40 L.Ed.2d 431 (1974)). As the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia observed: Federal courts have long condemned racially inflammatory remarks during governmental summation.... Racial fairness of the trial is an indispensable ingredient of due process and racial equality a hallmark of justice. Appeals to racial passion can distort the search for the truth and drastically affect a juror's impartiality. We speak of course, only of racial comments beyond the pale of legally acceptable modes of proof. An unembellished reference to evidence of race simply as a factor bolstering an eyewitness identification of a culprit, for example, poses no threat to purity of the trial. The line of demarcation is crossed, however, when the argument shifts its emphasis from evidence to emotion. United States v. Doe, 903 F.2d 16, 24-25 (D.C.Cir.1990); see also United States ex rel. Haynes v. McKendrick, 481 F.2d 152, 157 (2d Cir.1973) (Racial prejudice can violently affect a juror's impartiality and must be removed from the courtroom proceeding to the fullest extent possible.); United States v. Hernandez, 865 F.2d 925, 928 (7th Cir.1989) (noting that race-conscious arguments draw the jury's attention to a characteristic the federal constitution generally demands the that jury ignore).