Opinion ID: 1058311
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 51

Heading: Appeal to jury's passion

Text: In closing argument, the prosecutor placed pictures of each victim on a projector and left them there for seven minutes. At some point, the prosecutor threw dollar bills on the projector used to display the images of the victims. Appellant asserts that, by these acts, the prosecutor intended to inflame the passion of the jury, which is prohibited. See Watkins v. State, 140 Tenn. 1, 203 S.W. 344, 345-46 (1918). The State argues that the prosecutor was simply demonstrating to the jury that it was money that motivated appellant to rob, kidnap, and murder the victims, whose pictures were being projected, and to eliminate the victims as witnesses. These actions, although dramatic, were not conduct so improper that it affected the verdict. Harrington, 385 S.W.2d at 759. This issue is without merit.