Opinion ID: 1199062
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Expression of Personal Belief in Guilt

Text: In arguing that the prosecutor improperly expressed a personal opinion or belief in defendant's guilt, defendant points to three remarks made by the prosecutor. The first remark occurred in the prosecutor's opening statement: I'm not going to specifically describe to you the injuries found on James ... Junior, the five year old boy. You'll see the photos that have been referred to. Dr. Root's testimony is going to be extremely extensive on that. Suffice it to say I think at the end of the case there will be no serious issue that he was actually tortured to death. You will be wrestling with much different issues by the end of the case. In the second instance, the prosecutor said in closing argument: If we took away the blows that Sandra ... delivered James ... would still be dead. If we took away the [blows] Bryan Mincey delivered the credible evidence indicates that James... would still very likely be alive today. So I think on that issue, it is clear that Mr. Mincey is the most legally culpable. He is the actual, based on the credible evidence, the actual physical perpetrator of the death of James.... The third comment occurred later in the prosecution's closing argument when he said: Mr. Whitney [defense counsel] said there's no evidence that [defendant] did everything. I thought I made it clear as many ways as I could the prosecution clearly believes and expects you to believe that Sandra ... was involved in this beating. We believe and you should believe that [defendant] was the primary perpetrator. There are lots of reasons, but the biggest reason is Wendy's testimony. (16) A prosecutor may not express a personal opinion or belief in the guilt of the accused when there is a substantial danger that the jury will view the comments as based on information other than evidence adduced at trial. ( People v. Bain (1971) 5 Cal.3d 839, 848 [97 Cal. Rptr. 684, 489 P.2d 564].) The prosecutor's comments must, of course, be evaluated in the context in which they were made, to ascertain if there was a substantial risk that the jury would consider the remarks to be based on information extraneous to the evidence presented at trial. ( People v. Green (1980) 27 Cal.3d 1, 35 [164 Cal. Rptr. 1, 609 P.2d 468].) Each of the prosecutor's remarks challenged here was specifically made in reference to evidence that the prosecutor intended to, and did, introduce at trial. Under the circumstances, there was no substantial risk that the jury would interpret the prosecutor's remarks as referring to information other than evidence adduced at trial.