Opinion ID: 1755027
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: State's closing arguments regarding cigarette ash as evidence of identity.

Text: Prior to closing arguments, defense counsel moved in limine to preclude the State from arguing that the ashes found in Riedweg's sink were attributable to Dessaure. The defense argued that there was no direct evidence linking Dessaure to the ashes. The State responded that Dessaure's footprint was found near the sink; Riedweg's apartment was normally immaculate and she would have washed away the ashes; and Dessaure had been seen smoking a cigarette later that day. The court allowed the State's argument. During closing argument the State argued: He left his ashes behind. You saw the pictures of her apartment. Her apartment was absolutely immaculate. She had only been there 10 days. There was not a book out of place. Everything had its place. Everything had its order. There were only four things out of place in her apartment, four things that the killer left behind, four things that belonged to Kenneth Dessaure. No. 1, the footprint, that's out of place in her apartment. His footprint in her apartment, she had been there 10 days, never been in there before, that's out of place. No. 2, these ashes. Remember the water jug sitting on her counter? I think we have a picture of it. If not, you will have it in the room back there. The water jug on her counter, she had filled her cup up with water some time that day while laying out. She was a neat freak. If those ashes were there before she was murdered or before he entered the apartment, they would have been washed down that sink. She filled up her water cup and those ashes would have gone down the sink and they are not. They are right there. And we all know who was smoking that day. Who told the cops around noon, one o'clock, he had a cigarette, who was seen smoking by John Hayes, who the paramedics had seen smoking, who the detectives had seen smoking, Kenneth Dessaure. Footprint out of place, ashes out of place, that towel with semen in it out of place. If he had been in that apartment sometime prior for consensual random sex with her, you, for a second, believe she would have left that towel there? She would have thrown it in the washing machine or in the laundry basket. Cindy Riedweg would not have left that towel there and she certainly wouldn't have left a stain on her bedspread. That was not her style. That's not the way she did things. Her apartment was immaculate. Closing argument presents an opportunity for both the State and the defendant to argue all reasonable inferences that might be drawn from the evidence. Indeed, [t]he proper exercise of closing argument is to review the evidence and to explicate those inferences which may reasonably be drawn from the evidence. Bertolotti v. State, 476 So.2d 130, 134 (Fla.1985). This is exactly what the State did in this case. The evidence at trial showed that Dessaure's footprint was found by the kitchen sink, near a puddle of water and a scuff mark on the floor, and there was evidence that Dessaure was smoking cigarettes around the time of the murder. The State's argument simply explicated reasonable inferences that could be drawn from this evidence. Therefore, the argument was proper.