Opinion ID: 2335208
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Prejudice Suffered by Lee Harmless Error Analysis

Text: Although we conclude that the prosecution's comments in this case were improper allusions to facts not in evidence, appeals to the passions and prejudices of the jury and an invocation of the prohibited golden rule argument, our inquiry does not end. We must address whether the error was harmless. While not every impermissible comment by the prosecutor constitutes reversible error, the State bears the burden of proving that an error is harmless and must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the contested error did not contribute to the verdict. See Dorsey, 276 Md. at 659, 350 A.2d at 678. When determining whether overruling defense objections to improper statements during closing argument constitutes reversible, or harmless, error, we consider several factors, including the severity of the remarks, cumulatively, the weight of the evidence against the accused and the measures taken to cure any potential prejudice. Lawson, 389 Md. at 592, 886 A.2d at 889; Spain, 386 Md. at 159, 872 A.2d at 33. The State contends that any error in overruling the defense objections was harmless because any prejudice resulting from the cumulative effect of the comments was cured by the instruction delivered by the judge. Considering the statements cumulatively, Lee argues, conversely, that they were sufficiently prejudicial to deny him a fair trial and to warrant reversal, because the State's case against Lee was dependent entirely upon the credibility of the eyewitness, the prosecutor's comments were repeated and involved issues central to the case and the trial judge took no contemporaneous or direct curative action. The Court of Special Appeals determined that, even if the prosecutor's comments were improper, the judge's failure to sustain the objections was harmless and did not render the trial unfair because the court took prompt curative action. Again, we disagree. First we must consider the statements in the context of the prejudice that each of the statements, and all of them together, created in the minds of the jurors. Lawson, 389 Md. at 600, 886 A.2d at 893. See also Spain, 386 Md. at 161, 872 A.2d at 34. In this case, the prosecutor's reference to the law(s) of the streets and her appeals to the jurors to clean up the streets and protect the neighborhoods, cumulatively, were not isolated comments but were part of persistent appeals to the jurors' biases, passions and prejudices. The prosecutor referred to the law(s) of the streets several times, in two different contexts, arguing that Cotton was not credible because he was following the law of the streets, as well as that Lee should be taught a lesson not to follow the laws of the streets. Additionally, even after the trial court issued a curative instruction to the jury, the prosecutor continued. The strength of the evidence against the accused is an important consideration. See Spain, 386 Md. at 161, 872 A.2d at 34; Wilhelm, 272 Md. at 427, 326 A.2d at 722 (Another important and significant factor where prejudicial remarks might have been made is whether or not the judgment of conviction was `substantially swayed by the error,' or where the evidence of the defendant's guilt was `overwhelming.'). In this case, it is apparent that the evidence against Lee was not overwhelming; instead, like in Lawson, 389 Md. at 600, 886 A.2d at 894, the `she said, he said' case was close. The State's case was supported by the testimony of an eyewitness, who stated that, on September 12th, the day before the shooting, Lee and Cotton had been involved in a fight and that Lee had had a gun at that time, and that the following day, from an upstairs window in her house, she heard gunshots and saw Lee running after Cotton with an object that looked like a gun from which smoke appeared to be emanating. Subsequently, the eyewitness went to the police station and identified Lee as the individual involved in the altercation with Cotton on September 12th, and the one chasing Cotton down the street the next day. Two detectives and a police officer also testified for the prosecution regarding their investigation of the case, including the eyewitness's identification of Lee. The defense presented testimony from the victim, Cotton, who stated that Lee did not shoot him. Lee also presented the testimony of the brother of the eyewitness, who stated that the view of the eyewitness from the upstairs windows would have been obstructed and that the eyewitness had told him that she had not seen anything. The State's case was less than substantial. A prime factor relied upon by the Court of Special Appeals, however, was the instruction given by the trial judge as curative. See Lawson, 389 Md. at 601, 886 A.2d at 894; Spain, 386 Md. at 159-60, 872 A.2d at 33-34; Wilhelm, 272 Md. at 423-24, 326 A.2d at 720 (noting that a significant factor in determining whether the jury were actually misled or were likely to have been misled or influenced to the prejudice of the accused is whether or not the trial court took any appropriate action . . . such as informing the jury that the remark was improper, striking the remark and admonishing the jury to disregard it). Lawson and Spain are again instructive. In Spain, 386 Md. at 151, 872 A.2d at 29, the trial judge, in response to objection by defense counsel, which was overruled, informed the jury that this of course is closing argument, and that they will [consider the statements to be] lawyers' arguments. We concluded that the response was a contemporaneous and specific jury instruction sufficient to diminish prejudice from the prosecutor's improper comments: We note also the likely diminution of prejudice from the prosecutor's comments as a result of the trial judge's contemporaneous reminder that they were only an attorney's argument, not evidence, as well as the pertinent instructions that the trial judge gave to the jury before sending it to deliberate. In response to the objection by defense counsel, the trial judge stated, Okay, well the jury understand[s] that this of course is closing argument, and that they will [consider the statements to be] lawyers' arguments. Overruled. Although the trial judge did not acknowledge the comments as improper, nor did he explicitly instruct the jury to disregard the comments, he reminded the jury that the prosecutor's statements only should be considered as argument, not evidence. By emphasizing the argumentative nature of closing arguments contemporaneously with the improper comments, the judge took some effort to eliminate the jury's potential confusion about what it just heard and therefore ameliorated any prejudice to the accused. Id. at 159-60, 872 A.2d at 33-34. In Lawson, 389 Md. at 570, 886 A.2d at 876, we addressed an entirely different situation in which the judge did not make any effort, aside from providing jury instructions before closing argument and sustaining one objection, of many, to ameliorate any prejudice resulting from an improper argument. Comparing the judge's efforts with those in Spain, we concluded that there was no immediacy or specificity as to any efforts to cure: In the case sub judice there were no contemporaneous efforts by the trial judge to ameliorate the prejudice or any specific effort to cure the effects. Instead, he relied only on the general instructions he had previously given and the fact that written general instructions would go in the jury deliberation room. We look at the trial judge's actions as a whole in reference to the statements. In Spain, for example, upon objection by the defense attorney to the prosecutor's comments, the trial court contemporaneously and specifically addressed the issue that the jury understood the remarks to be only lawyers' arguments and not evidence. In petitioner's case the only time the judge addressed the weight or appropriateness of the prosecutor's remarks was in the general jury instructions, which at no point directly addressed the improper remarks. Thus there was no immediacy or specificity as to any efforts to cure. Id. at 602-03, 886 A.2d at 895 (citations omitted). Therefore, to be sufficiently curative, the judge must instruct contemporaneously and specifically to address the issue such that the jury understands that the remarks are improper and are not evidence to be considered in reaching a verdict. See Miller v. State, 380 Md. 1, 35-37, 843 A.2d 803, 823-24 (2004) (concluding that the trial court properly denied a motion for a mistrial based upon the prosecutor's comments because the court properly sustained the defense's objections, granted the defense's motions to strike and immediately instructed the jury to disregard the specific comments). In this case, the trial judge provided the jury with the model criminal pattern jury instructions before closing arguments. During the State's rebuttal argument the only curative instruction given by the trial judge was a repeat of the prior instructions given to the jury: Appeals to passion, prejudice, so forth and so on, are not proper appeals. It's an argument, but your duty in this case is to decide the case based on the evidence, not on passion or prejudice. This instruction, however, was neither contemporaneous nor specific. The curative instruction was only issued after the clean up the streets argument, not contemporaneous with the law(s) of the streets comments, nor did it specifically address the law(s) of the streets arguments or inform the jury that the prosecutor's comments were improper. Moreover, the resulting prejudice of the comments, cumulatively, was exacerbated because the judge, rather than sustaining the valid objections interposed by Lee's counsel and admonishing the prosecutor to limit her rebuttal to appropriate arguments, allowed repeated improper comments even after the curative instruction was provided to the jury; immediately after the curative instruction, the prosecutor, obviously not having gotten the message, asked the jury to teach Lee a lesson not to settle disputes with violence, to which an objection was made and again overruled, and referred to the laws of the streets. By summarily overruling multiple defense counsel objections before issuing his curative instruction, followed by yet another overruled objection, the trial judge conveyed to the jurors that there was nothing wrong with considering the prosecutor's law(s) of the streets and clean up the streets arguments, when the sole proper function of the jury was to determine Lee's guilt or innocence based on the evidence presented at his trial. See Hill, 355 Md. at 226, 734 A.2d at 210 (warning of the persistency of the prosecutor's conduct  continuing to make these [improper] remarks time and again despite the court's rulings that the remarks were improper because there is a risk that when the prosecutor persistently ignores those rulings and continues in an improper course of conduct, that the jury may come to regard the court's rulings as rote window dressing and thus pay less attention to them). As a result, after our own independent review of the record, we are not able to declare a belief, beyond a reasonable doubt, that the judge's error in overruling defense counsel's objections, to the prosecution's improper comments alluding to facts not in evidence, appealing to the passions and prejudices of the jury and invoking the prohibited golden rule argument, in no way influenced the verdict. Therefore, such error cannot be deemed `harmless' and reversal is mandated. Dorsey, 276 Md. at 659, 350 A.2d at 678.