Opinion ID: 1099664
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 14

Heading: Improper indirect references to defendant's failure to testify

Text: La.C.Cr.P. art. 770(3) provides that the trial court shall declare a mistrial when the prosecutor refers directly or indirectly  to [t]he failure of the defendant to testify in his own defense. (Emphasis supplied). When the challenged reference is indirect, the court must inquire into the remark's intended effect on the jury so as to distinguish between impermissible indirect reference to the defendant's failure to testify and permissible general statements that the prosecution's case was unrebutted. State v. Johnson, 541 So.2d 818, 822 (La.1989). In cases where the prosecutor simply emphasized that the state's evidence was unrebutted, and there were witnesses other than the defendant who could have testified on behalf of the defense but did not do so, the prosecutor's argument does not constitute an indirect reference to the defendant's failure to take the stand. Id. at 822-23; State v. Smith, 433 So.2d 688, 694-95 (La. 1983) (prosecutor's comments allegedly directed to defendant's failure to testify actually related to lack of evidence). In this case, the prosecutor's reference to defendant's quiet demeanor did not refer to his failure to testify; instead, these references were intended to rebut defendant's claim that his co-defendant-Jacobs, and only his co-defendant, had the necessary specific intent to kill. Accordingly, the comment was within the bounds of proper closing argument and did not warrant a mistrial. Likewise, despite appellate counsel's creative attempt to frame the prosecutor's closing arguments about defendant's lack of remorse as an indirect reference to defendant's failure to testify, at most, the comments regarding defendant's lack of remorse reflect impermissible closing argument. Regardless, defense counsel's failure to object waived this issue on appeal. La.C.Cr.P. art. 841.