Opinion ID: 2345197
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Cautionary Instruction During Penalty Phase

Text: Appellant next argues that the trial court erred by denying his request for a cautionary instruction during the penalty phase after the prosecutor committed misconduct during closing argument. Specifically, after the conclusion of the penalty phase testimony, the prosecutor made the following remark in her closing argument. When Judy Wise tried to find out what happened, when Criminal Investigator Wise begged the people in the crowd to come forward and say what happened, those people that were on the street 2:00 in the morning, the associates of [Appellant] and the other people that were there, what did they say? Excuse me for saying, F___you all. F___the cops. Not the kind of people that are a part of the solution. These people are part of the problem. [Appellant] was part of the problem. N.T. 8/13/2008 at 126. Appellant contends that because the trial court failed to caution the jury that the quoted reference did not reflect Appellant's state of mind or his attitude toward police, the verdict of death was a product of prejudice and the arbitrary factor of his alleged hatred toward law enforcement. Accordingly, he requests that we reverse the sentence of death and remand for a new penalty hearing. The Commonwealth persuasively submits that this claim is waived. Defense counsel did not object during the prosecutor's closing argument or immediately thereafter. Instead, after completing his own closing argument and following a fifteen-minute recess, defense counsel requested a cautionary instruction, asserting the same grounds set forth herein. Id. at 135. The trial court pointed out that the prosecutor's comment was based on testimony given during the guilt phase of trial, and that defense counsel could have objected at the time of the prosecutor's closing, but did not do so. Id. at 135-36. This Court has held that the lack of a contemporaneous objection constitutes a waiver of any challenge to the prosecutor's closing remarks. Commonwealth v. Powell, 598 Pa. 224, 956 A.2d 406, 423 (2008) (providing that the absence of a contemporaneous objection below constitutes a waiver of appellant's current claim respecting the prosecutor's closing argument) (citing Pa.R.A.P. 302(1); and Commonwealth v. Butts, 495 Pa. 528, 434 A.2d 1216, 1219 (1981) (providing that the failure to object during or after summation constitutes a waiver of prosecutorial misconduct claim)). Here, as noted, the prosecutor had completed his closing argument, defense counsel had completed his closing argument, there had been a fifteen-minute recess, and, only as the court was about to begin its charge, did Appellant object and seek a curative instruction. Under these circumstances, Appellant's failure to object to the prosecutor's comments immediately after the closing argument constitutes a waiver of his claim.