Opinion ID: 1690710
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 19

Heading: the improper closing argument by the prosecutor violated anthony doss's rights under the united states and mississippi constitutions and mississippi law.

Text: ś 126. Doss complains that the prosecutor improperly argued against the consideration of mitigating evidence, discussed the victim, argued the defendant's lack of remorse, invoked the authority of the Bible, interjected his personal opinion, and argued non-statutory aggravating factors and facts not in evidence. Said violations allegedly deprived Doss of his rights under the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments of the United States Constitution and Article 3, Sections 14 and 28 of the Mississippi Constitution. The following are the portions of the closing argument alleged to have been improper and constituting reversible error. [43] E.g., of misstatements. [44] We've got a case where no care was placed on human life. Now, if â even if we hadn't had the second murder that day, I think it still would have been a case that justified the death penalty... . Now, this is a case where two lives were taken. Opposing counsel says there is something good in this person right here. Well, what are we going to do? Are we going to balance? Does it take two lives, does it take twenty lives? How many lives does he have to take before justice is done? ... . E.g., of arguing against the consideration of mitigating evidence. [45] The mitigating circumstances, such as the age of the defendant at the time of the crime, loving and caring child to his mother, grew up in a poverty environment â there's a list of them here for you to look at. How can those have any bearing on a person taking somebody else's life? I submit to you that there's not one mitigating circumstance on here that has anything to do with a murder case; that has anything to do with why you shouldn't follow the law and give this death penalty on this particular case. Now, there are a lot of people that grow up in poverty. But, that doesn't give them the right to go out and kill somebody. There are a lot of people that grow up with one parent. That doesn't give them the right to go out and murder somebody. And that `s what their [sic] asking you to do, is consider these two factors and try to say they outweigh the fact that two people were killed that day; they outweigh the fact that the capital murder of Robert C. Bert Bell was committed during the commission of a robbery; they outweigh the fact that the capital murder was committed to keep them from being caught. They can't even come close. ... . E.g., of arguing about defendant's lack of remorse. Now, if â even if we hadn't had the second murder that day, I think it still would be a case that justified the death penalty without any question, but that even more so shows that there was no remorse, no feeling of guilt or sorrow for taking a human life. ... . E.g., of Doss's propensity for future danger. The death penalty is there for a reason. It's for people like this that don't need to be out in our society, because they're a danger to all of us. Somebody who doesn't care who they kill. Now this just happened â somebody, I think the defense attorney mentioned this, about somebody being at the wrong place at the wrong time? This could have been anywhere, anybody. This could have been anybody working in a store or any business, because they just decided they wanted to go in and rob and kill. It didn't matter to them who was killed. They didn't even know Bert Bell. They didn't care ... We cannot have people walking the streets that have no more regard for human life than that. ... . E.g., of arguing facts not in evidence. [46] The plan to start with was, We're going to go in, we're going to take what we want, and we're going to kill Bert Bell., just like they killed the person in Memphis ... It didn't matter to them who was killed. They didn't even know Bert Bell. They didn't care. ... . E.g., of prosecutor's inappropriate use of the Bible. [47] [The defense] wants to argue that the Bible says you shouldn't give death. That's not what the Bible says. To start with, God decreed capital punishment as the penalty for murder when he said in Genesis 9:6, Whosoever sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed. For in His image, in the image of God, made He man. ... . So, don't be held back by the death penalty. All through it, the Bible justifies the death penalty. E.g., of prosecutor stating personal opinion. That's why I think this is definitely the case where we should ask for the death penalty, and you should give the death penalty... . And that's another reason that I think the death penalty is the only appropriate penalty in this case. ś 127. The State correctly asserts a procedural bar to this issue on all counts because the record reflects that there was not one objection by Doss during the entire closing argument. Without waiving the procedural bar, the State offers Berry v. State, 575 So.2d 1, 9 (Miss. 1990), for its authority that the State's comments did not exceed the limits of permissible argument. We agree on both points and find this issue without merit in addition to clearly being procedurally barred.