Opinion ID: 1706950
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Good character of the victim

Text: ¶ 39. The prosecutor said that Sparks' Stop-and-Go was: a place he [Bert] intended, according to James Sparks, to buy from James Sparks' and take that store over one day. That would be his store. Apparently, an industrious young man, 21 years of age, thinking that maybe he was going to be able to own his own store. I commend him for that. Also, he said: Bert Bell's life is now reduced to approximately 50 exhibits. That's what his life is all about today.... And, Bert Bell didn't have a prayer. He did not have a prayer. He was going to die that day. There's no doubt about it. He didn't have a chance. ¶ 40. An impassioned argument is not in itself an improper argument. Furthermore, the prosecutor, as any other counsel, is free to recall and comment on testimony offered in evidence and to draw inferences. [The prosecutor] may comment upon any facts introduced into evidence. He may draw whatever deductions seem to him proper from these facts, so long as he does not use violent and abusive language, and even in many cases invectives may be justified and even called for, as pointed out by Chief Justice Whitfield in Gray v. State, 90 Miss. 235, 43 So. 289 [1907]. Davis v. State, 684 So.2d 643, 656 (Miss. 1996)( quoting Shell v. State, 554 So.2d 887, 900 (Miss.1989), rev. on other grounds 498 U.S. 1, 111 S.Ct. 313, 112 L.Ed.2d 1 (1990), and Nelms & Blum Co. v. Fink, 159 Miss. 372, 131 So. 817 (1930)). This liberty is, of course, not without limitation. An appeal to emotion or for sympathy for a victim can reach a point at which it is prejudicial. In Willie v. State, 585 So.2d 660, 679 (Miss. 1991), we disapproved blatant comparisons of the value of the victim's life and that of the defendant. However, such was not done here, and we do not find that the prosecutor's comments transgressed the limits of fair argument.