Opinion ID: 1945754
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Diluting the Burden of Proof

Text: The defendant's next claim is that, because the prosecutor argued that the jury could rely solely on the victim's testimony to find the defendant guilty without explaining that her testimony had to satisfy all of the elements of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt, he improperly conveyed the impression that the state had a lesser burden of proof than that required to find the defendant guilty of the charged offenses. We disagree. The prosecutor stated the following in arguing that the jury could rely on the testimony of the victim alone to find the defendant guilty: Now, one of the things you have to keep in mind ... [is that] the court may instruct you that the testimony of one witness alone, the testimony of only one witness, is sufficient to convict. Just one witness. So, if you were to bring [the victim] in here and have her take the stand and talk about what occurred back in June of 2003, sit here, identify her shorts, say those were [her] shorts, get up, walk out the door, [defense counsel] and myself stand up, no other witnesses, you could convict the defendant if you believe the information that she passed on to you and if it satisfied all of the elements of the crimes charged. We conclude that the prosecutor's comments were not improper. The fact that the prosecutor omitted the phrase beyond a reasonable doubt in connection with his statement that the jury could find the defendant guilty if it believed the testimony of the victim alone and if it determined that her testimony satisfied all of the elements of the crimes charged is of little or no significance. The prosecutor referred to the fact that the state must prove the elements of the crimes charged beyond a reasonable doubt at least six other times during his closing argument. In fact, the defendant relies on such language in claiming prosecutorial impropriety with respect to another portion of the prosecutor's closing argument, in which the prosecutor stated: As was mentioned, we do have an obligation to prove this case beyond a reasonable doubt. And that obligation involves proving the elements beyond a reasonable doubt. (Internal quotation marks omitted.) Part II C of this opinion. Finally, the prosecutor did not misstate the burden of proof or tell the jurors that the state did not have to prove the elements of the crimes charged beyond a reasonable doubt. Accordingly, the prosecutor's argument was not improper merely because he did not refer to the burden of proof more often or in relation to the fact that the jury could find the defendant guilty on the basis of the victim's testimony alone.