Opinion ID: 1919018
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: The District Attorney's closing argument

Text: ¶ 33. Tate says the district attorney made misleading and improper statements in closing argument. These statements were as follows: And sympathy because he's got children. That is not what you should consider. The law is designed when somebody has the kind of problem that Mr. Tate has and when somebody violates the law like this time and time and time and time again, something needs to be done to stop it, to get him through that situation, pay whatever debt to society that he might get, and then get back with his children; not while he is selling marijuana, not while he is possessing marijuana, not while he is smoking two marijuana cigarettes a day. He can get back with them when that's over, when those things are secured by the law. ¶ 34. Tate asserts that the prosecutor's implication that he would get back with his children when his sentence was completed was misleading and improper. Tate says the statements created the impression that he would simply serve some period of incarceration and then be released to his family while his children were still young, creating a false picture of the incarceration time. Tate argues that it is improper for a prosecutor to tell a jury about a defendant's sentence at the guilt phase of the trial, and therefore these remarks were improper and an abuse of the prosecutor's privilege. Tate argues that these remarks warrant reversal of his conviction. ¶ 35. The record indicates, and Tate does not dispute, that the defense made no objection to the prosecutor's remarks at trial. This issue is thus procedurally barred. Tubbs v. State, 402 So.2d 830, 835 (Miss.1981). Tate argues that his conviction should be reversed despite the fact that he did not object at trial under Williams v. State, 445 So.2d 798, 810 (Miss.1984), in which this Court stated that improper remarks by a prosecutor warrant reversal even without a defense objection when there is a most extreme and intolerable abuse of his privilege. ¶ 36. We find that the prosecutor's remarks do not rise to the level of a most extreme and intolerable abuse of his privilege. Tate is entitled to no relief on this issue.