Opinion ID: 1744577
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: State's Penalty Phase Closing Argument

Text: Nowell also contends the trial court erred in denying his objections and motions for mistrial made during the State's penalty phase closing argument. The control of prosecutorial comments is within the trial court's discretion, and this Court will not reverse the trial court's decision unless there has been an abuse of that discretion. Schoenwetter v. State, 931 So.2d 857, 872 (Fla.), cert. denied, 549 U.S. 1035, 127 S.Ct. 587, 166 L.Ed.2d 437 (2006); Conde v. State, 860 So.2d 930, 950 (Fla.2003). Nowell contends that the trial court erred in overruling the objections and motions for mistrial he made when the prosecutor made improper comments during the State's closing argument in the penalty phase of the trial. [8] At one point during the State's argument, the prosecutor said, Mercy. State asks that you recommend mercy if mercy is warranted. And mercy wasn't given in this case, not by Mr. Nowell, not by Mr. Bellamy. There was no mercy there, none whatsoever. Defense counsel objected and moved for a mistrial. The trial judge overruled the objection and denied the motion for mistrial. This comment is strikingly similar to a comment made by the prosecutor in Urbin v. State, 714 So.2d 411 (Fla.1998), a comment we found to be improper. In Urbin, the prosecutor argued: If you are tempted to show this defendant mercy, if you are tempted to show him pity, I'm going to ask you to do this, to show him the same amount of mercy, the same amount of pity that he showed Jason Hicks on September 1, 1995, and that was none. 714 So.2d at 421. We held that this line of argument is blatantly impermissible under Rhodes v. State, 547 So.2d 1201, 1206 (Fla. 1989), and Richardson v. State, 604 So.2d 1107, 1109 (Fla.1992), which condemned these type of arguments because they are an unnecessary appeal to the sympathies of the jurors. The prosecutors statement is equally improper in this instance. Thus, the trial court erred in overruling defense counsels objection to this line of argument.