Opinion ID: 1179776
Heading Depth: 5
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Linkage of Beacon and Judy N. Crimes.

Text: Defendant next contends the prosecutor's argument stressed improper linkage between the Beacon and Judy N. crimes, thus causing the Judy N. charges to prejudice him in the Beacon matter. In particular, defendant objects to the prosecutor's remark, when discussing the Judy N. incident, that [t]his was done for simple abuse and domination. This man is tough with a gun. Tough with a woman. Tough with a young man that's unarmed when he's got a knife.  (Italics added.) This fleeting reference was entirely proper. The prosecutor sought only to emphasize that in each of the charged offenses, defendant had employed a lethal weapon to subdue an unarmed victim. When arguing joined counts, the prosecutor was not required to refrain from mentioning the two matters in a single section of his argument, or from noting that each involved a charged weapons enhancement. No misconduct occurred. Even if the prosecutor's remarks had been improper, we would find no basis for reversal. The cited comment was brief, and the violence of the two incidents, including the weapon use in each case, was already obvious. Hence, even absent an admonition, no prejudice arose.