Opinion ID: 1653916
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Prejudicial Statements by Prosecutor

Text: As his seventh claim, McDonald argues that the prosecutor made several improper comments during closing argument in the penalty phase of the trial. First, McDonald contends the prosecutor's remarks implied that the defendants circumvented the American way of life by killing for what they wanted rather than working for it: You know people in our society want to buy cars and clubs, the American way. The normal way is you get up in the morning and you go to work. And you punch a clock. You don't kill people for it. And that is what these men did. That is the value that they placed on human life. Because McDonald and Gordon were Jamaican, McDonald asserts, the prosecutor improperly appealed to the emotions and fears of the jury to send a message to foreign citizens not versed in the `American' way of life. Appellant's Initial Brief at 29. McDonald also challenges the prosecutor's following remarks concerning the pain and suffering felt by the victim: They subdued him and tied him. Why, ladies and gentlemen, did they have to do this to him? Why did they have to blindfold him, gag him, they had to gag him because he was crying out and they had to keep him quiet. . . . . There was more violence than that. They broke three of his ribs. Gagging on the mouth, look at the mouth injury? How tightly he was gagged. And why? Because he was crying out for mercy. He was crying out. . . . . He is lying there. He is tied up and he is down and what it happening, the water is filling up.... We all filled up our bath tub before, and what was Dr. Davidson having to do during that period of time? Listen to the water as it filled that bath tub, with him either in it or out of it, it doesn't matter. Listen to water as it filled up. And as he knew his life was going to be taken away. And under their scenario I sure hope they held him down, because if you think about it, if they didn't hold him down when he was trying to get up then what he did is he would have had to necessarily be hog tied like he was, hearing the water falling. Think about the time frame when you go back in the jury room. Think about the time frame if [sic] would take. How long it would take to fill the tub up. Twenty minutes? How long they were in the house. It is a lot longer than it sounds. And if he is lying like this, ladies and gentlemen, and that water is filling up and they're not holding his head down. Is he drowning with the possibility of ever getting any air at all as that bath tub is filling up with water as he is drowning face down, not able to get up, not able to do anything but rock and roll. That is the method of this killing and the ordeal that this doctor went through. That is the aggravating circumstance of heinous, atrocious and cruel. (Emphasis added.) McDonald contends that the comments on what the victim must have felt during the attack violated the golden rule because they forced the jury to place themselves in the shoes of the victim. Unfortunately, defense counsel did not object to any of these comments during the State's closing remarks or move for a mistrial. Instead, counsel for McDonald filed a motion for new trial following the conclusion of the penalty phase proceeding which alleged improper comments by the prosecutor during closing arguments. At a hearing held on August 4, 1995, the trial court denied the motion because no objection had been made at trial. Because counsel failed to object to the alleged improper statements by the state attorney during closing argument, McDonald has not preserved this issue for review, and, therefore, his arguments are not cognizable on appeal. See Chandler v. State, 702 So.2d 186, 191 (Fla.1997), cert. denied, 523 U.S. 1083, 118 S.Ct. 1535, 140 L.Ed.2d 685 (1998); Kilgore v. State, 688 So.2d 895, 898 (Fla.1996). The only exception to this procedural bar is where the prosecutor's comments constitute fundamental error. See Urbin v. State, 714 So.2d 411, 418 n. 8 (Fla.1998); Bonifay v. State, 680 So.2d 413, 418 n. 9 (Fla.1996). Fundamental error is defined as the type of error which reaches down into the validity of the trial itself to the extent that a verdict of guilty could not have been obtained without the assistance of the alleged error. Urbin, 714 So.2d at 418 n. 8 (quoting Kilgore, 688 So.2d at 898). Upon consideration of the comments made during closing remarks in this case, taken both individually and collectively, we find that allegedly improper comments do not rise to the level of fundamental error. [9] See Sochor v. State, 619 So.2d 285, 290 (Fla.1993). While we find the prosecutor's remarks to be ill-advised, they do not rise to the level of fundamental error. See Chandler, 702 So.2d at 191 n. 5 (noting that prosecutor's thoughtless and petty comments toward defense counsel and defendant were not so prejudicial as to vitiate entire trial); Davis v. State, 604 So.2d 794, 797 (Fla. 1992) (holding that while comment by prosecutor during penalty phase closing argument that it might not be a bad idea to look at [the knife] and think about what it would feel like if it went two inches into your neck was improper, it was not so egregious as to undermine jury's recommendation). The jury was well aware of the facts of this case. They had heard testimony from the victim's fiancé, who discovered the body, and had viewed pictures of the victim and the condition of the bathroom in which he was found. Accordingly, we do not believe that the prosecutor's comments so tainted the jury's verdict so as to warrant a new penalty phase proceeding. [10]