Opinion ID: 3006521
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Sixth Question

Text: ¶ 53 The prosecutor next asked more directly about the circumstances of the murder and who was responsible for carrying out the act: Question 6 “Isn’t it true that you repeatedly told the police that [Mr. Bond] is the one who stabbed and killed Kay Mortensen and that you were holding the gun upstairs in the bathroom; isn’t that true?” ¶ 54 But this question is not harmful to Mr. Bond’s defense because it actually restates Mr. Bond’s own version of events. The State had introduced notes that Mr. Bond wrote and passed to another inmate in which he related the exact scenario suggested by the prosecutor’s question: he wrote that Mr. Rettig threatened him with the handgun and compelled him to slit Mr. Mortensen’s throat. Moreover, defense counsel argued the same version of events in closing as the basis of Mr. Bond’s compulsion defense. Far from prejudicing Mr. Bond, this question actually paralleled his theory of the case. Thus, Mr. Bond was not prejudiced by this question.