Opinion ID: 987718
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Background and the District Court’s Decision

Text: ¶43 As noted, the Criswells jointly moved for a mistrial based on remarks prosecutor Park made during closing arguments. The challenged remarks occurred in two portions of the prosecutor’s argument. First, in discussing whether the animals were confined in a cruel manner and whether the confinement was justified, Park stated: Now, let’s talk about the confining portion of this. You heard from Dr. Yunker, Dr. Rosenthal, and Paul Charbonneau about the way these cats were confined. You’ve seen the pictures. Any more than one or two cats in those confined trailers is cruel, especially if they are subjected to the diseases and viral infections that the confinement caused. What kind of animal deserves to be locked in its own filth for weeks to months at a time? The Defendants want you to believe that this was caused by a freak snowstorm that locked them in their squatters camp where they were trespassing. Well, it is northwest Montana, it snows, it started snowing a couple months before this happened. Further along in his argument, referring to the Criswells’ testimony that they had solicited and relied on donations to support their Idaho and Montana operations, Park asserted: The beauty of being a juror in this country is that you get to go back to that room and ask yourself what really makes sense in this case, what really happened here. The scenario that fits this is easy. The Criswells were run out of Idaho because they were claiming to be a no-kill cat rescue, yet their actions killed more cats than a kill shelter and they refused to listen to anybody there. The truth of the matter is that the Criswells, Edwin and Cheryl Criswell, are freeloaders, professional freeloaders at that. They even stepped up here and questioned Paul Charbonneau as to why he didn’t bring them cleaning supplies courtesy of the taxpayers of this county. The Criswells have taken freeloading to a whole new level. How many times in the past words [sic] have we heard the word “donate” or “give”? The Criswells have figured out that if they have a 501(c)(3) nonprofit animal rescue they can ask everyone else to give them stuff and they don’t have to go do the one thing that they need to do to survive, and that is work. 17 Dr. Ladanye even testified that Edwin has a medical marijuana card, yet he can cut wood and do yard work. We can afford marijuana but we can’t afford cat food. ¶44 The Criswells did not contemporaneously object to the “squatters camp,” “run out of Idaho,” and “freeloaders” remarks. Edwin did object, however, to the “marijuana” references. He argued that the prosecutor was “asking the jury to make a decision based on the nature of what [Edwin] is doing, not the facts of the charge.” The District Court sustained the objection and reiterated to the jurors that they were to disregard anything that was not in evidence and were to rely on their “own individual and collective recollection of what the evidence is in this case and not the argument of counsel.” ¶45 In his closing argument, Edwin’s counsel identified some of Park’s “inflammatory comments” and attempted to refute them. Then, after the jury had retired to deliberate, the Criswells made their motion for a mistrial. They argued that the prosecutor had tainted the jury by offering inadmissible character evidence and improper personal opinions regarding their credibility and culpability. They posited that the District Court’s curative instruction was insufficient to remedy the taint. In response, Park argued that the Criswells themselves had opened the door to his remarks and that their conduct met the definitions of “freeloader” and “squatter.” He maintained that his remarks had not been intended to inflame the jury or to comment on the Criswells’ characters. ¶46 The District Court recessed to research whether the challenged remarks warranted a mistrial. The court applied this Court’s two-step analysis for determining whether improper comments have prejudiced a defendant’s right to a fair and impartial trial. The first step is to determine whether the prosecutor made improper comments. If improper 18 comments were made, the second step is to assess whether those comments prejudiced the defendant’s right to a fair and impartial trial. State v. Lindberg, 2008 MT 389, ¶ 25, 347 Mont. 76, 196 P.3d 1252; Gladue, ¶¶ 11-12. Prejudice resulting from improper comments is not presumed; the burden is on the defendant to demonstrate that the prosecutor’s improper comments prejudiced his or her right to a fair and impartial trial. Lindberg, ¶ 25; Gladue, ¶ 27. In determining whether prejudice resulted, the improper comments must be viewed in the context of the case in its entirety. Lindberg, ¶ 25. ¶47 Applying this test, the District Court first found that Park’s remarks were improper in that they were inflammatory, unprofessional, or without any basis in the record. The District Court then determined, however, that the Criswells had not met their burden of demonstrating that the remarks, viewed in the context of the entire three-day trial, had prejudiced their right to a fair and impartial trial. The court noted that Edwin himself had been “loose with his speech” and often “spoke in a vernacular” during his testimony.