Opinion ID: 1652270
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Parker's Prosecutorial Misconduct Argument Fails.

Text: Parker raises three separate arguments under the umbrella of prosecutorial misconduct. He contends reversible error occurred (1) when the Commonwealth repeatedly referred to Parker as the leader of the Crips; (2) because the Commonwealth made repeated references to an allegedly incriminating rap CD, which was not introduced into evidence; and (3) because the Commonwealth committed discovery violations. We reject Parker's arguments that reversible error occurred.
Counsel is allowed broad latitude in presenting a case to a jury. [13] So mere improper remarks, standing alone, are not sufficient for reversal. [14] Rather, a reviewing court must determine whether the complained-of prosecutorial misconduct was of such an `egregious' nature as to deny the accused his constitutional right of due process of law. [15] Our review focuses on whether the trial as a whole was fair, not solely upon the culpability of the prosecutor. [16] Reversal is proper only if the prosecutorial misconduct is so serious as to render the trial fundamentally unfair. [17]
During both opening statement and closing argument, the Commonwealth repeatedly referred to Parker as the leader of the Crips. Parker contends those references constitute prosecutorial misconduct because they lacked an evidentiary basis. Our review of the record shows that the Commonwealth repeatedly referred to Parker as the leader of the Crips. But despite Parker's contention to the contrary, we have not been directed to a place in the record where Parker lodged a contemporaneous objection to that characterization. [18] So we deem this issue unpreserved for appellate review, meaning that we may reverse only if the misconduct was a palpable error that resulted in manifest injustice. [19] The comments at issue were not so egregious as to have undermined the basic integrity and fairness of Parker's trial. As the Commonwealth noted in its response to Parker's motion for a new trial, the jury could reasonably have inferred that Parker was the leader of the Victory Park Crips by virtue of the fact that he seemed to be the person who made the ultimate decisions to commit the acts in question. After all, Coffey testified, without objection, that Parker had named the gang the Rat Pace and that he and Parker were above the other gang members in the drug-dealing hierarchy. The fact that no witness specifically identified Parker as the leader of the gang does not necessitate reversal. An attorney is permitted to make reasonable comments on the evidence and urge the jury to draw reasonable inferences from the evidence. [20] For example, it was not improper for the Commonwealth to contend in closing argument that Coffey's testimony showed that he lacked sufficient intelligence to have planned and executed the crimes allegedly committed by the Crips. In sum, having considered the comments, we do not believe they are so egregious as to have undermined the fairness and integrity of the proceedings.
Parker contends that the Commonwealth engaged in reversible error when it repeatedly referred to a rap CD, which allegedly contains a rap in which Parker and other Crips rapped about a violent act they committed in July 2000 ( i.e., the McCurley murder). Although the CD was mentioned several times, the CD apparently was never admitted into evidence. The Commonwealth called as a witness a person who helped produce the CD. The Commonwealth also called as a witness a police officer who purchased the CD, in Parker's presence, from another member of the Crips. The Commonwealth also questioned Coffey about the CD. The direct testimony linking Parker to the CD was Coffey's assertion that Parker had acknowledged that he participated in performing the rap recorded on the CD. This is not the first time we have confronted this same CD. In a separate trial, the Commonwealth played the CD during opening statements in the trial of Kenneth Parker's brother, DeShawn Parker. [21] But the Commonwealth was unable later to persuade the trial court to admit the CD into evidence because, like in the case at hand, the CD could not be properly authenticated. [22] We held in DeShawn Parker's case that it was error to play the CD during opening statements and to refer to it during the trial. [23] We held that the trial court erred in not granting a mistrial because: the Commonwealth was able to tell the jury that the CD referred to the Appellant having committed the murder of which he was accused, and that he was bragging about it through the CD recording (which was clearly prejudicial) even though the CD could not be sufficiently authenticated to be admitted into evidence.... By using unauthenticated materials in opening statement the Commonwealth unfairly exposed the jury to inflammatory information of such a nature that no admonition could reasonably be believed to cure it. [24] But the question before us in the case at hand is not the same question that was before us in DeShawn Parker's case. Kenneth is not alleging that the trial court erred by not granting his request for a mistrial. Actually, Kenneth has not argued that he even requested a mistrial. Instead, Kenneth argues that the Commonwealth engaged in prosecutorial misconduct by referring to an inadmissible item of evidence (the CD). The Commonwealth's terse response only generically argues that the trial court did not abuse its discretion. We are somewhat at a disadvantage because none of the parties have pointed to any specific point in the record where the trial court actually denied a motion by the Commonwealth to admit the CD into evidence; and we shall not search the voluminous record in this case to try to pinpoint that event, if it occurred. [25] Regardless, the question is whether it was proper for the trial court to permit the Commonwealth to refer to a CD that, apparently, was never introduced into evidence. To ask that question is to answer it because a jury's verdict must be based on the evidence actually admitted into evidence, which the CD was not. [26] So the trial court erred by permitting the Commonwealth to refer repeatedly to damning material that was not admitted into evidence. The question then becomes whether the Commonwealth's referral to the CD was so egregious as to constitute reversible prosecutorial misconduct. The references to the CD were neither fleeting nor brief. The CD was discussed by at least three witnesses for the Commonwealth. But a crucial distinction between the case at hand and DeShawn Parker's case is that the CD was apparently never played for the jury in the case at hand. So, unlike DeShawn Parker's case, the jury in the present case was not given the impossible task of attempting to disregard the damning contents of the CD. So the error in the case at hand was not nearly as egregious as in DeShawn Parker's case. We conclude that the references to the CD in the case at hand were not so far beyond the bounds of ethical propriety as to undermine the basic fairness and integrity of the trial.
Although he makes passing reference to other alleged discovery violations, Parker's only substantive claim is that the Commonwealth failed to meet its obligation to provide an alleged oral statement by Levolia Baker. When Parker called Baker as a witness, Baker testified that Parker did not shoot him. That testimony apparently was consistent with Baker's testimony in the trial of JaJuan Stephenson. In rebuttal, the Commonwealth called Detective Harvey Hunt, who testified that Baker had told Hunt after Stephenson's trial that Parker had shot Baker. Parker contends the Commonwealth's failure to provide Baker's statement to Hunt in discovery was a violation mandating reversal. We disagree. Although not mentioned in the briefs, our review of the videotape of Baker's testimony reveals that the Commonwealth asked Baker whether he had told Hunt after Stephenson's trial that Parker was the person who shot him (Baker). Baker responded that he had not. Immediately after that exchange, a bench conference occurred in which Parker's counsel stated that he did not receive any such statement by Baker in discovery. The Commonwealth responded that there was no written statement and that it planned to call Hunt later to testify concerning his conversation with Baker. The trial court then stated simply that the issue would be addressed at the time Hunt was called in rebuttal. Two days later, the Commonwealth called Detective Hunt in rebuttal. Before Hunt testified, Parker objected to Hunt's testimony on the grounds that it was a reopening of the Commonwealth's case-in-chief, not impeachment. Importantly, that objection contained no reference to Baker's alleged statement to Hunt not being provided to Parker during discovery. The trial court permitted the questioning because Baker had testified that he did not make a statement to Hunt that Parker had shot him (Baker). Hunt then testified that he had a conversation with Baker after Stephenson's trial, during which Baker told Hunt that he (Baker) was scared to say that Parker had shot him. Parker then called the prosecutor from Stephenson's trial, Joseph Gutmann. Gutmann testified that Baker had identified Stephenson as the shooter. Gutmann further testified that Detective Hunt never told him that Baker had testified falsely out of fear of Parker. We question whether this alleged discovery violation is properly preserved since Parker's counsel seemingly abandoned the discovery argument when Hunt testified. But even if we assume solely for the purposes of argument that the issue is preserved, Parker is not entitled to relief. Baker testified that he did not make an incriminating statement regarding Parker to Hunt. And Prosecutor Gutmann testified that he was not told by Hunt that Baker had identified Parker as the shooter. So instead of being caught unawares, Parker was able to blunt most, if not all, of the force of Hunt's testimony. Even if we assume the Commonwealth failed to meet its discovery obligation by timely failing to turn Baker's statement over to Parker, [27] there has not been a showing of prejudice sufficient to constitute reversible prosecutorial misconduct. In other words, any discovery error by the Commonwealth regarding Baker's statement was not so egregious as to have undermined the basic fairness and integrity of the trial. [28]