Opinion ID: 2000808
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Whether the Trial Court Erred in Denying Defendant's Motion for Mistrial Based on an Allegedly Improper Closing Argument by State's Counsel.

Text: Next, we consider defendant's contention that the district court improperly denied his motion for mistrial based on an allegedly improper closing argument by the State's counsel. The challenged remarks occurred during the State's rebuttal argument. Defendant asserts that the argument denied the existence of a material fact known to exist by the prosecutor and, in addition, was an improper reference to defendant's failure to testify as a witness. A. Alleged denial of facts known to exist. In a motion for mistrial following closing arguments, defendant's counsel accused the prosecutor of denying the existence of the 1981 restoration of citizenship granted to defendant when the prosecutor knew that it existed. The district court dismissed this contention on the basis that the comment had been invited by defense counsel's closing argument. We have recognized that, if allegedly objectionable remarks are made in response to an opponent's argument, this will ordinarily obviate any impropriety that would otherwise exist. State v. Horsey, 180 N.W.2d 459, 461 (Iowa 1970). In instances in which a defendant's argument is unreported and has not been supplied by proceedings to reconstruct the record under Iowa Rule of Appellate Procedure 10(c), we will presume that the prosecutor's remarks were made in response to an argument advanced by defense counsel. State v. Stump, 254 Iowa 1181, 1196, 119 N.W.2d 210, 219 (1963); State v. Latham, 254 Iowa 513, 517, 117 N.W.2d 840, 843 (1962); State v. Rutledge, 243 Iowa 179, 199, 47 N.W.2d 251, 263 (1951). The defendant's closing argument was not reported. Consequently, we would be justified in applying the presumption established in the foregoing cases. This is not necessary, however, because the facts that were conceded during the hearing on the motion for mistrial reveal that defendant had injected an issue in closing argument concerning defendant's good-faith belief that he could possess a firearm because his voting rights had been restored. The trial court had previously ruled that no issue of good-faith belief based on a mistake of law would be submitted to the jury in the court's instructions. Under these circumstances, we believe that the prosecutor's statement in rebuttal denying the existence of a restoration of citizenship was intended to negate the type of restoration that would qualify under section 724.27 as a basis for possessing a firearm. Although that comment was beyond the issues, as narrowed by rulings of the district court, and was also outside of the record, it was invited by defense counsel's argument that was also beyond the issues in the case. Under those circumstances, the prosecutor's response does not constitute grounds for reversal. B. Alleged comment on failure of accused to testify. The complaint that the prosecutor alluded in his rebuttal argument to the defendant's failure to testify is based on a comment that absolutely no evidence of any kind had been presented that defendant did hold a good-faith belief that he could possess a firearm. When a defendant's state of mind is claimed by the defense to be an issue, any general reference to an absence of evidence of that state of mind is not improper simply because the most obvious source of such evidence lies with the accused. State v. Atwood, 342 N.W.2d 474, 475-76 (Iowa 1984) (no impropriety in advising the jury that the prosecutor could not crawl into the defendant's head and tell you what he was thinking); see also United States v. Emmert, 9 F.3d 699, 702-03 (8th Cir.1993), cert. denied sub nom., 513 U.S. 829, 115 S.Ct. 101, 130 L.Ed.2d 50 (1994) (remarks that there is no evidence to support a proposition does not manifest intention by prosecutor to call attention to defendant's failure to testify). We find no error in the denial of the mistrial motion.