Opinion ID: 2508322
Heading Depth: 5
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Biblical reference to evil

Text: Toward the end of his rebuttal argument at the guilt phase of trial, the prosecutor said he had to look at something to make sense out of this, something to put this into some perspective because in 45 years [he had not] seen anything that [he could] compare ... to this case. He stated that although he was not a religious person by any stretch of the imagination he had read about the apocalypse as described in Revelation, the last book of the Bible. [T]he word apocalypse, he said, put defendant's conduct in proper perspective, except that in contrast to the apocalypse, defendant did not have the necessary mandate to carry out his actions. The prosecutor explained that in the apocalypse, a crowned rider on a white horse who came to conquer the world was followed by three other men on horses who came to kill and take peace away so that the world could start anew. Describing the apocalypse as the mandate of God, the prosecutor argued to the jury: On what steed, with whose authority does [defendant] cut a path through the City of Oakland leaving murder and death and destruction and utter annihilation in his wake? By what authority is he guided? [¶] This man is the disciple of Satan, ladies and gentlemen. He has worked his way up into this community from the deep inner core of this planet like a sour foul putrid weed. He has cracked the soil and killed all before him so he can live, and when the sun goes down he comes out and he slaughters and he maims and he murders. [¶] But, ... he's not the judge and jury in this case, you are, and that's where he comes up short. The man is the utter harbinger of senseless total annihilation, no more, no less. You must take the sword from him and cast it down and tell him that he was wrong and he may go no further. The prosecutor continued: [T]he institutions that govern the conduct of the people in this world are to be taken most seriously. The Penal Code of this state consists of thousands of laws but they mean nothing until you give them life through your verdict and set the appropriate standard of conduct. We repeatedly have held that prosecutors may not appeal to religious authority in a closing argument to the jury. Our opinions have most often discussed such arguments when made at the penalty phase of a capital case, because the decision whether to impose the death penalty is an ethical and normative question that at first glance seems amenable to religious argument. As we have explained, such argument is improper, because to invoke God may diminish the jurors' sense of personal responsibility for the decision whether to impose the death penalty or may encourage jurors to base their penalty decision on a different or higher law than that found in the California Penal Code. ( People v. Ervin (2000) 22 Cal.4th 48, 100, 91 Cal.Rptr.2d 623, 990 P.2d 506; People v. Welch (1999) 20 Cal.4th 701, 761-762, 85 Cal.Rptr.2d 203, 976 P.2d 754; People v. Roybal (1998) 19 Cal.4th 481, 519-521, 79 Cal.Rptr.2d 487, 966 P.2d 521; People v. Hill, supra, 17 Cal.4th at pp. 836-837, 72 Cal.Rptr.2d 656, 952 P.2d 673; People v. Bradford (1997) 14 Cal.4th 1005, 1063, 60 Cal.Rptr.2d 225, 929 P.2d 544; People v. Wash (1993) 6 Cal.4th 215, 260-261, 24 Cal.Rptr.2d 421, 861 P.2d 1107; People v. Sandoval (1992) 4 Cal.4th 155, 193-194, 14 Cal.Rptr.2d 342, 841 P.2d 862.) Here, the prosecutor's biblical reference came at the guilt, not the penalty, phase of trial. Appeals to religious authority at the guilt phase are also impermissible, but for a different reason than at the penalty phase. The jury at the guilt phase is not charged with making an ethical or normative decision; instead, it decides questions of historical fact based on the evidence and applies to those facts the law as articulated by the trial court. Religious input has no legitimate role to play in this process. (See generally People v. Williams (2001) 25 Cal.4th 441, 463, 106 Cal.Rptr.2d 295, 21 P.3d 1209.) But not every reference to the Bible is an appeal to religious authority. Not only is the Bible a religious text, but it is also generally regarded as a literary masterpiece; indeed, it is among the oldest and best-known literary works in our culture. The English departments of major secular universities teach courses on the Bible as literature. [4] And this court has repeatedly held that in closing argument attorneys may use illustrations drawn from common experience, history, or literature.  ( People v. Love (1961) 56 Cal.2d 720, 730, 16 Cal.Rptr. 777, 366 P.2d 33, italics added; see also People v. Boyette (2002) 29 Cal.4th 381, 463, 127 Cal.Rptr.2d 544, 58 P.3d 391; People v. Cunningham (2001) 25 Cal.4th 926, 1026, 108 Cal. Rptr.2d 291, 25 P.3d 519; People v. Hill, supra, 17 Cal.4th at p. 819, 72 Cal.Rptr.2d 656, 952 P.2d 673; People v. Williams (1997) 16 Cal.4th 153, 221, 66 Cal.Rptr.2d 123, 940 P.2d 710; People v. Sandoval, supra, 4 Cal.4th at p. 193, 14 Cal.Rptr.2d 342, 841 P.2d 862; People v. Wharton, supra, 53 Cal.3d at p. 567, 280 Cal.Rptr. 631, 809 P.2d 290; People v. Farmer (1989) 47 Cal.3d 888, 922, 254 Cal.Rptr. 508, 765 P.2d 940; People v. Thornton, supra, 11 Cal.3d at p. 763, 114 Cal.Rptr. 467, 523 P.2d 267.) As an article in a respected law journal explains, fiction, anecdotes, jokes and Bible stories are commonly regarded as acceptable in closing argument. (Levin & Levy, Persuading the Jury with Facts Not in Evidence: The Fiction-Science Spectrum (1956) 105 U.Pa. L.Rev. 139, 147, italics added.) When references to the Bible are involved, the line between literary allusion and religious appeal is often a fine one. A prosecutor who mentions the Bible in closing argument runs a grave risk that a reviewing court will find that the line has been crossed and will reverse the defendant's conviction. Because any use of biblical references in argument must be carefully scrutinized, cautious prosecutors will choose to avoid such references. Nevertheless, so long as they do not appeal to religious authority, prosecutors may refer to the Bible in closing argument to illustrate a point. Here, a reasonable juror likely would understand the prosecutor's biblical references merely as a powerfully dramatic illustration of the gravity and enormity of defendant's crimes. The prosecutor did not argue that biblical law or doctrine required defendant's conviction of the charges against him. [5] Indeed, he prefaced his remarks with a statement that he himself was not a religious person. Because the prosecutor did not use the biblical allusion as an appeal to religious authority, we do not find prosecutorial misconduct in this case.