Opinion ID: 2763627
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Impropriety of the Prosecution’s Conduct

Text: In the instant case, the prosecutor’s conduct was “so deplorable as to define the term ‘prosecutorial misconduct.’” Boyle, 201 F.3d at 717. Although this Court has previously stated No. 11-3363 Gumm v. Mitchell Page 42 that “[a] prosecutor may rely in good faith on evidentiary rulings made by the state trial judge and make arguments in reliance on those rulings,” Cristini, 526 F.3d at 900, this Court has also held on a number of occasions that “[w]hen a prosecutor dwells on a defendant’s bad character to prove that he or she committed the crime charged, we may find prosecutorial misconduct,” id. at 899. See also Walker v. Morrow, 458 F. App’x 475, 490 (6th Cir. 2012) (internal quotation marks omitted) (“[T]his Court has concluded that a prosecutor commits misconduct by making an animated recitation of properly-admitted character evidence . . . and by asserting that members of the jury should be afraid to run into [the defendant] at night . . . .”). In Cook v. Bordenkircher, 602 F.2d 117, 120 (6th Cir. 1979), this Court concluded that a prosecutor’s conduct was improper where the prosecutor’s closing argument constituted a “persistent Ad hominem attack on the petitioner’s character.” The prosecutor’s attack on the petitioner’s character was particularly egregious because it “pervade[d] the closing argument” and “[t]he prosecutor continually portrayed the petitioner as a lowlife who had to be kept from society.” Id. And in Washington v. Hofbauer, 228 F.3d 689, 700 (6th Cir. 2000), we confronted a situation in which the prosecutor put forth a “bad character argument[] that the alleged criminal acts ‘fit’ the evidence of [the defendant]’s character and lifestyle.” The Court concluded that “while the evidence as to Washington’s character was admissible for certain limited purposes, the prosecutor went far beyond the bounds of permitted conduct when presenting that evidence to the jury” by “impl[ying] that the jurors should consider Washington’s unseemly character when rendering their verdict; in his rebuttal closing argument, he explicitly urged them to do so.” Id. at 699-700. Although it is not improper merely to direct a jury’s attention to properly admitted evidence, it can be improper for a prosecutor to use that evidence to suggest that a criminal defendant had a propensity to commit the charged crimes. Id. at 700 (finding that the misconduct was severe and improper because the “character attack pervaded the closing argument and rebuttal.”).7 7 On the other hand, in Flood v. Phillips, 90 F. App’x 108, 120 (6th Cir. 2004), this Court declined to find that a prosecutor’s remarks pertaining to a habeas petitioner’s alleged homosexual tendencies were improper. The Court found particularly compelling the fact that the prosecutor had qualified his statement about the petitioner’s tendencies, “conced[ing] to the jury that his remarks were speculative and that he had no evidence, thereby mitigating their harmful effect.” Id. No. 11-3363 Gumm v. Mitchell Page 43 As the above-referenced case law demonstrates, the prosecutor’s acts and remarks in this case were improper. Although the Ohio trial court overruled defense counsel’s objections to admission of Thacker and Baker’s testimony, which was likely error in this case, the intentional and deliberate manner by which the prosecutor obtained the testimony and the ultimate propensity argument made during his rebuttal closing argument constitute improper conduct. Here, the conduct was improper because the prosecutor intentionally elicited evidence of questionable validity that is far more prejudicial than probative. The prosecutor knew what testimony he was searching for and did not stop until he obtained the exact language he sought from Thacker. Additionally, the prosecutor was aware of the questionable veracity of that testimony because he knew Petitioner had not only discussed “fucking a horse” but had also indicated that the horse was talking to him during that same conversation with Thacker. The prosecutor followed the same pattern with Baker—he pushed Baker in an attempt to get the exact statement he wanted on the record, even though Baker could not recall that statement ever having been made by Petitioner. Just as he pushed for Thacker to say “fucked the horse,” the prosecutor pushed Baker to say that Petitioner had previously stated he was “so hard up he’d do it to anyone.” However, Baker was not willing to say those words and the prosecution pushed too far. Instead, he improperly got them on the record through his leading question. The prosecutor then used this evidence to depict Petitioner as an overly-confident sexual deviant who has a propensity to have sex with little boys and commit crimes such as those in this case. In fact, the prosecutor injected an implication in his rebuttal closing argument that was inappropriate and unfounded on the record. While there was questionable evidence of Petitioner’s sex with women, men, and a horse, there was absolutely no evidence on the record that Petitioner ever had sex or was motivated to have “sex with little boys.” (J.A. at 315.) See Walker, 458 F. App’x at 490 (internal quotation marks omitted) (“[A] prosecutor’s act of misrepresenting facts in evidence is improper, since doing so may profoundly impress a jury and may have a significant impact on the jury’s deliberations.”). No. 11-3363 Gumm v. Mitchell Page 44