Opinion ID: 1798829
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 8

Heading: the prosecuting attorney made improper argument in his closing argument.

Text: It is insisted by the appellant that the prosecuting attorney made statements which amount to a comment on the right of the appellant to remain silent as guaranteed by the Fifth Amendment. The statement, which caused the case to be remanded for a settlement of the record, is stated as follows: Obviously there is a lot of stuff being done here to disguise the names of people. What name is given for Damon when he is down in Florida? Damon Malantino. Why was that name used? Who can tell. It is obviously one thing; it was not the name of Wallace Eugene Perry on any of this stuff. And why not?... You do not have eye witnesses. Nobody is going to come in here and say yes, I robbed, and I have shot. Whose fault is that? It's the defense's fault. There are no witnesses. You know, criminals are the ones that pick the witnesses for crimes, because criminals are the ones that decide the time and the place of the crime. There was no objection at the time these remarks were made. The argument by the appellant is that this court should review and reverse, in the absence of objection, when the error is so great that the trial court was under a duty to correct it immediately and where no objection or admonition could have undone the damage or erased the effect of the error from the minds of the jurors. Ply v. State, 270 Ark. 554, 606 S.W.2d 556 (1980); Smith v. State, 268 Ark. 282, 595 S.W.2d 671 (1980). The case was remanded for settlement of the record when the state argued that a portion of the above-quoted statement should have read: Nobody is going to come in here and say yes, I've (been) robbed, and I have (been) shot. The word been was not used by the state in the closing argument. Appellant argues the statements are comments on appellant's exercise of his right to remain silent. However, considering the total context of the closing argument, and the lack of an objection at the time of the trial, we are of the opinion that this was not a comment upon the right of the appellant to remain silent. We are not in a position to know how the statement was delivered, with what inflections and emphasis, and are not able to see how the jury perceived it. The trial court has a broad latitude of discretion in supervising and controlling arguments of counsel and its decisions are not subject to reversal unless there is manifest abuse of that discretion. Parker v. State, 265 Ark. 315, 578 S.W.2d 206 (1979). In the case before us we do not find that the failure to object reached the status required which demands that in the interest of justice this court consider the alleged error when no objection was made at the time the statements were made.