Opinion ID: 1202924
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: the prejudicial misconduct of the deputy district attorney

Text: While the weight of the evidence is so massive against the defendant that I cannot say the prejudicial misconduct of the deputy district attorney was instrumental in the jury's finding defendant guilty, I am of the opinion that this misconduct was probably a major influence in the jury's decision to fix the penalty at death. In other words, this misconduct prejudiced defendant's chances to receive a life sentence rather than death: (1) He identified defendant with Caryl Chessman and reminded the jury repeatedly that unless defendant were executed he might be released to commit other sex crimes. He stated that Chessman had been paroled before committing the more publicized crimes of which he was accused. This must have carried considerable weight in the jury's consideration of the penalty. Yet, defendant and not Chessman was on trial, and defendant was entitled to have his case determined on the record of his own trial. (2) The inflammatory ephithets used to describe defendant must have had an emotional effect on the minds of the jurors. Powerful words, portraying the images and associations they conjure, participate actively in forming human judgments. In a trial as emotionally conceived as this one was, they are particularly decisive. No objection or admonition could cure this psychological onslaught: Once spoken, the emotional impact of the words was locked in the minds of its hearers. The cases cited by the majority to justify requiring an objection, involve the failure to object to evidence. An admonition to ignore certain testimony in reaching a factual conclusion in a logical manner may be effective. But it is far harder to blot out an emotion or a vivid image from the mind of a juror. In this case I do not think it would have been possible. It has been truly said: You can't unring a bell.