Opinion ID: 1060393
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 39

Heading: the state's closing argument during the sentencing phase

Text: Appellants contend that the State's closing argument during the sentencing phase was improper and prejudicial. We disagree. Initially, we note that the record indicates that Appellants did not make a single objection to anything that either of the two prosecutors said during their closing arguments during the sentencing phase. By failing to make a contemporaneous objection, Appellants waived this issue. Farmer, 927 S.W.2d at 591; Tenn. R.App. P. 36(a). However, notwithstanding waiver, we conclude that Appellants are not entitled to relief even on the merits. Essentially, Appellants claim that the closing arguments of both prosecutors were improper because they included references to the fact that each Appellant had been previously convicted of first-degree murders. As support for this proposition, Appellants cite State v. Smith, 755 S.W.2d 757 (Tenn.1988) and State v. Bigbee, 885 S.W.2d 797 (Tenn.1994). However, Smith and Bigbee are clearly distinguishable from this case. In Smith, the Tennessee Supreme Court held that because the jury had been informed that the defendant had received a life sentence for one murder conviction, it was improper for the prosecutor to argue that the jury would be imposing no punishment at all if it imposed another life sentence for the second murder conviction. 755 S.W.2d at 767[-]68. In Bigbee , the supreme court held that the prosecutor's argument was improper because he had strongly implied that imposition of a death sentence for a second murder conviction would be an appropriate way to punish the defendant for a previous murder conviction for which the defendant received a life sentence. 885 S.W.2d at 812. The prosecutors in this case did neither of these things. First, the prosecutors never mentioned the fact that Appellants had received a life sentence for the Branam murder and they never argued that imposition of a life sentence in this case would be no punishment at all. Second, the prosecutors never stated or implied that imposition of a life sentence for the Griffin murder would be an appropriate punishment for the Branam murder. Instead, the prosecutors only mentioned the Branam murder in the context of arguing that because the State had proven the existence of the aggravating circumstance and had proven that the aggravating circumstance outweighed the mitigating circumstances, the death sentence was the appropriate sentence in this case. There is nothing improper about arguing that the existence of the prior conviction as an aggravating circumstance supports imposition of a death sentence. See id. This issue has no merit.