Opinion ID: 1543739
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: mistrial: prosecutor's summation

Text: Appellant next contends that prosecutorial misconduct during the prosecutor's closing argument warranted a mistrial and that the trial court erred in failing to grant appellant's request for one following the conclusion of the prosecutor's summation. Appellant argues that the prosecutor mischaracterized the defense, derided defense counsel, and improperly injected his personal opinions into the argument. The standard for review of such claims was recently set forth at length in Commonwealth v. Johnson, supra, 533 A.2d at 997; see also Commonwealth v. Howard, supra, 543 A.2d at 1174-75. Applying this standard, we find no reason to reverse the trial court's decision to deny the motion for a mistrial. Upon careful review of the record, we find no merit in the suggestion that the prosecutor improperly mischaracterized the defense or derided defense counsel. Rather, the prosecutor merely made appropriate, albeit unflattering, inferences from the evidence presented. Moreover, while it appears that the prosecutor improperly personalized his argument to the jury by using language which may have suggested personal belief, rather than professional argument, we do not find that the prosecutor's arguably improper conduct in that respect undermined the truth determining process. Cf. Commonwealth v. Slocum, supra, 559 A.2d at 56-57. To the contrary, while both prosecution and defense took full advantage of the loose reign held by the trial court over those arguments, we do not believe that the reign was so loose as to permit the jury to be stampeded by counsels' arguments. Finally, we again note and emphasize that in such matters we are inclined to defer to the trial court's superior vantage in accessing the probable impact of the challenged conduct on the jury. See Commonwealth v. Slocum, supra, 559 A.2d at 57; Commonwealth v. Howard, supra, 543 A.2d at 1179 (Kelly, J., concurring). The trial court found no grounds for a mistrial. We find no abuse of discretion with respect to the trial court's ruling on the mistrial motion.