Opinion ID: 1561252
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The charge of setting up defense witnesses.

Text: The prosecutor's comments about defense witnesses Gomez and Ayala, while more troubling, do not strike me as being (or even measurably contributing to) the stuff of which reversals for plain error are made. The prosecutor commented that Mr. Gomez is a friend. Mr. Gomez is a set-up. He is here to convince you of something that there is no other evidence of. There can be no quarrel with the first and third sentences of this commentary; they were based on the evidence or lack thereof. In using the word set-up, however, the prosecutor missed a golden opportunity to remain silent. The entire second sentence would have better been left unsaid. The prosecutor could have made her entire legitimate point  the lack of corroboration  without resorting to pejorative terminology. The prosecutor also said of Officer Ayala that he was no hero, that he got taken, that he was set-up and that he received his information from Coreas. In context, these remarks were in response to defense counsel's description of the Officer as a hero as well as a good police officer and a nice man. I see nothing wrong with defense counsel's drawing that inference from the circumstances, or with the prosecutor's drawing a different one. [3] Adversaries may properly argue opposing inferences from the same evidence. Once again, however, the word set-up inappropriately introduced a characterization that went well beyond the facts. The use, twice, of the ill-advised word set-up, however, appears to me to be a weak reed on which to base, in whole or in substantial part, the reversal of a conviction following a long and hard-fought homicide trial. It did not undermine the integrity or fairness of the trial. If counsel had objected even at the conclusion of argument, the judge could have taken corrective action. In McCowan v. United States, 458 A.2d 1191, 1196-99 (D.C.1983), reversal for plain error was found inappropriate where the prosecutor's improper statements were far more serious. I would apply McCowan here.