Opinion ID: 1099664
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 16

Heading: Improper reference to co-defendant's statement

Text: Defendant cites the testimony of the lead investigator, Detective Maggie Snow, regarding co-defendant-Jacobs' statement to police as a basis for a mistrial. Particularly, defendant quotes the following exchange: STATE: During your investigation, were you ever able to formulate who the shooter was? WITNESS: No, I was not. Neither one during any time of the investigation admitted to being the trigger man. Defense counsel objected to this exchange and moved for a mistrial, arguing that the prosecutor was comment[ing improperly] about what the other guy didn't say and that [t]he jury shouldn't be told that the other guy didn't make a statement saying that he was the shooter. Defendant adds that the prosecutor's extensive voir dire on the buddy system of committing crimes made this exchange particularly prejudicial. Even assuming this reference to Jacobs' statement was inadmissible hearsay, the jurors knew that defendant and Jacobs were being separately tried for this double homicide. Furthermore, the finger pointing substance of Jacobs' statement was not the crux of the state's case; rather, as discussed earlier, the state's case centered on the assumption that Jacobs was the shooter, and defendant was a principal. Admitting this statement was thus, at best, harmless error. See State v. Wille, 559 So.2d 1321, 1332 (La.1990)(admitting hearsay evidence which is merely corroborative and cumulative of other properly introduced evidence is harmless). [27]