Opinion ID: 2335208
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The Law of the Streets Cotton's Credibility

Text: During its rebuttal argument, the State argued to the jury that they should not believe Cotton; Cotton was being untruthful about Lee not being the shooter, because Cotton was following the law of the streets, to which Lee's counsel interposed several objections, which were summarily overruled. Lee contends that the prosecutor's comments about the law of the streets, directed at the credibility of Cotton, were improper because they alluded to facts not in evidence. The State, however, asserts that these comments were not improper, but rather, that they were a fair and direct response to the issues raised by Lee in his closing argument. Generally, we have deemed comments made during closing argument that invite the jury to draw inferences from information that was not admitted at trial, improper. See Spain, 386 Md. at 156, 872 A.2d at 31; Hill, 355 Md. at 222, 734 A.2d at 208; Degren, 352 Md. at 433, 722 A.2d at 903. In Spain, the defendant was charged with and convicted of various controlled dangerous substance offenses. The prosecution's case was supported by the testimony of the officer who arrested Spain, the drugs confiscated from a third party at the time of the arrest and documentary exhibits. During closing, the prosecutor stated that the police officer who testified did not have a motive to lie and that he would not testify falsely, because he would have to engage in a lot of lying, in a lot of deception and a conspiracy of his own to come in here and tell you that what happened was not true. He would have to risk everything he has worked for. He would have to perjure himself on the stand. Id. at 151, 872 A.2d at 28. Defense counsel's objection was overruled, because the trial court determined that, the jury understand[s] that this of course is closing argument, and that they will [consider the statements to be] lawyer's arguments. Id. at 28, 872 A.2d at 29. We concluded that the prosecutor's comments about the absence of a motive to lie was within the permissible bounds of closing argument, but ruled improper the reference to the possible adverse consequences that the police officer would suffer if he were to lie; we opined that although the concept of adverse personnel implications flowing from perjured testimony by a police officer resonates at a common sense level, at no time during the trial scrutinized in the present case did the State introduce evidence from which it could be inferred ineluctably that Officer Williams risked his career or any of its benefits if he were to testify falsely. Id. at 156, 872 A.2d at 31-32. But see Wilhelm, 272 Md. at 404, 326 A.2d at 707, a consolidation of two cases  Wilhelm v. State and Cook v. State  in which we espoused an exception to the rule against alluding to facts not in evidence. The complaint in Cook, a murder case, was over the prosecutor's informing the jury, in closing argument, that over 300 people had been murdered in Baltimore City in the last year, that an unknown number of persons had been robbed with weapons, and that the victims were most often people unable to fight back. We determined that this argument was not improper because it made reasonable inferences from the facts in evidence, and those of such general notoriety as to be matter of common knowledge. Id. at 445, 326 A.2d at 731. We also have iterated that prosecutors should not appeal to the passions and prejudices of a jury. See Lawson, 389 Md. at 597, 886 A.2d at 892; Hill, 355 Md. at 211, 734 A.2d at 208; Contee v. State, 223 Md. 575, 584, 165 A.2d 889, 894 (1960). See also Wilhelm, 272 Md. at 414-15, 326 A.2d at 715 (Whether it be in opening statement or in summation, `appeals to class prejudice or to passion are improper and may so poison the minds of jurors that an accused may be deprived of a fair trial,'; `the State's Attorney has an obligation to refrain from making any remark  within the hearing of the jury  which is likely or apt to instigate prejudice against the accused,'; or, in derogation of the defendant's right to a fair trial, is `calculated to unfairly prejudice the jury against the defendant.') (citations omitted). In Lawson, the prosecutor, during rebuttal argument, implied that the defendant in a sexual offense case was a monster and a child molester. We held that these comments were improper, agreeing that they were designed to inflame the jurors' prejudices against a hated class of individuals. Id. at 597, 886 A.2d at 891-92. In reaching our conclusion, we cited Walker v. State, 121 Md. App. 364, 709 A.2d 177 (1998), in which our intermediate appellate court concluded that the prosecutor's closing argument calling the defendant an animal and a pervert was improper; we also noted that the `right to a fair trial and the search for the truth, however, should not be hampered or obfuscated by extreme appeals to passion calculated to inflame the jury. . . . It is incumbent upon the People's representative to maintain an air of dignity and stay above the frey.' Lawson, 389 Md. at 598, 886 A.2d at 892, quoting Walker, 121 Md.App. at 380-81, 709 A.2d at 185. In the instant case, the State essentially argued to the jury that Cotton was not credible because Cotton was following the law of the streets. There was nothing in the record, nor was there any testimony or evidence, however, as to what constituted the the law of the streets in this context. The prosecutor's comments left the jurors to speculate what was contemplated by the phrase, which is not of such general notoriety as to be matter of common knowledge. Rather, the prosecutor's argument had the effect of leading to juror speculation and decision, perhaps, on information outside of the evidence, and as such, constituted an improper appeal. The State argues, nevertheless, that reversal is not required because the prosecutor's law of the streets comments were a fair and direct response to the issues raised by Lee's counsel in his closing argument, specifically that it goes against nature for Cotton, the victim of the shooting, to testify falsely about the identity of the shooter. The `invited response doctrine' suggests that `where a prosecutorial argument has been made in reasonable response to improper attacks by defense counsel, the unfair prejudice flowing from the two arguments may balance each other out, thus obviating the need for a new trial.' Spain, 386 Md. at 157 n. 7, 872 A.2d at 32 n. 7. The doctrine does not grant a prosecutor unbridled discretion to respond to an inappropriate defense argument with improper conduct, but rather, permits the prosecution to respond to improper conduct in order to equalize the positions of both sides and remedy any unfair prejudice. [8] The Supreme Court in United States v. Young, 470 U.S. 1, 12, 105 S.Ct. 1038, 1044-45, 84 L.Ed.2d 1, 10-11 (1985), iterated that the idea of `invited response' should not be read as suggesting judicial approval or  encouragement  of response-in-kind that inevitably exacerbates the tensions inherent in the adversary process but whether the prosecutor's `invited response,' taken in context, unfairly prejudiced the defendant. As a result, because the invited response doctrine calls for the prosecutor's invited response to be considered in context with the defense counsel's own impropriety, it is not applicable when defense counsel has made no improper argument. See Spain, 386 Md. at 157 n. 7, 872 A.2d at 32 n. 7 (stating that the invited response doctrine is only applicable when the response is made after an improper, direct and specific attack is made on a witness's veracity); Johnson v. State, 325 Md. 511, 519, 601 A.2d 1093, 1097 (1992) (determining that improper prosecutorial remarks, on rebuttal, were not justified as nothing more than a reasonable reply to the arguments made by defense counsel because they were improper, while the defense counsel's argument was not). Although the prosecutor was entitled to respond to the argument posed by the defense, see Degren, 352 Md. at 432 n. 14, 433, 722 A.2d at 902 n. 14, 903 (concluding that comments by prosecutor during rebuttal, although unprofessional and injudicious, but not improper, were made in response to defense counsel's closing argument); Henry, 324 Md. at 232, 596 A.2d at 1038 (determining that rebuttal argument was not improper, and that, when viewed in context, was merely a direct response to the argument of defense counsel); Blackwell v. State, 278 Md. 466, 481, 365 A.2d 545, 553-54 (1976), cert. denied, 431 U.S. 918, 97 S.Ct. 2183, 53 L.Ed.2d 229 (1977) (stating that prosecutor was entitled to respond to and correct statements made by defense counsel during closing argument), she, however, was not entitled to exceed the bounds of permissible argument. Therefore, because defense counsel's argument regarding whether Cotton was being truthful was not improper, there is no invited response and the prosecutor's law of the streets comments exceeded the permissible scope of closing argument.