Opinion ID: 1747978
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 9

Heading: alleged improper voir dire comments

Text: Appellant also claims that the trial court erred during voir dire by (a) not declaring a mistrial sua sponte when the prosecutor made statements to the effect that both sides would likely present evidence in the case, (b) sustaining the State's objections to some of defense counsel's questions, and (c) not declaring a mistrial sua sponte because the prosecutor stated that the jury should consider all of the evidence in the case rather than basing its decision on any one single factor. As Appellant acknowledges in his brief, none of these three claims was preserved for review; we therefore can review only for manifest injustice under the plain error rule, Rule 30.20.
With respect to several statements the prosecutor made suggesting the jury likely would hear evidence from both sides, the record reveals that, contrary to Appellant's argument, when taken in context these statements did not misstate the law or mislead the jury as to the burden of proof. Rather, as in State v. Christeson, 50 S.W.3d at 266, they were legitimate attempts to explain the mechanics of the trial process and the role of the jury in assessing evidence presented by the state or by the defendant.
With respect to a few instances in which the trial court sustained the prosecutor's objection to defense counsel's questions about whether venirepersons could consider a life sentence even if Appellant did not present mitigating evidence, defense counsel was permitted to rephrase the question in a way that substantially addressed the State's burden of proof on the issue of punishment. Moreover, Appellant has not established that this alleged error could have been prejudicial in light of the fact that he did later present mitigating evidence.
With respect to the statement which the prosecutor made several times during voir dire that no single factor should be key to the jury's decision but rather the jury should consider all the evidence in the case, the record does not fairly support Appellant's argument that this misstated the law when taken in context. Nor does it support Appellant's claim that the statement somehow misled the jurors into believing that they could impose a death sentence even without finding a single statutory aggravating circumstance, or that they could impose a death sentence if they found that the evidence in aggravation did not outweigh the evidence in mitigation. Further, even if the three items discussed above were deemed erroneous, the jury was properly instructed on all issues relevant to the prosecutor's comments during voir dire; and there is no plausible indication in the record that any of the complained of comments or objections had a decisive impact on the trial's result. Thus, they do not meet the standard of manifest injustice necessary for plain error relief.