Opinion ID: 787546
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Improper Penalty-Phase Closing Argument

Text: 50 The final claim we consider is that the prosecutor made an improper penalty-phase closing argument. Clemons contends that the prosecutor's reference to Charles Manson and John Wayne Gacy during the penalty phase violated his rights under the Due Process Clause. 51 The question here is whether the prosecutors' comments `so infected the trial with unfairness as to make the resulting conviction a denial of due process.' Darden v. Wainwright, 477 U.S. 168, 181, 106 S.Ct. 2464, 91 L.Ed.2d 144 (1986) (quoting Donnelly v. DeChristoforo, 416 U.S. 637, 643, 94 S.Ct. 1868, 40 L.Ed.2d 431 (1974)). Relief is available only if the prosecutor's closing argument was so inflammatory and so outrageous that any reasonable trial judge would have sua sponte declared a mistrial. James v. Bowersox, 187 F.3d 866, 869 (8th Cir.1999). Because this claim was adjudicated on the merits by the state courts, we apply 28 U.S.C. § 2254(d), and can grant relief only if the state court unreasonably applied Supreme Court precedent in disposing of this claim. Williams, 529 U.S. at 405, 120 S.Ct. 1495 (concurring opinion of O'Connor, J., for the Court). 52 The Missouri Supreme Court noted that the trial court sustained the defense's immediate objection to those statements, admonished the prosecutor to refrain from this argument, ordered the jury to disregard the comments, and had them stricken from the record. The court held that the trial's fairness was the key component in a prosecutorial misconduct case, and that a reversal is reserved for extraordinary circumstances-where the failure of the trial court to grant a mistrial resulted in the denial of a fair trial. The court then rejected this claim. Clemons I, 946 S.W.2d at 217. We find that the Missouri Supreme Court's adjudication of this claim was not an unreasonable application of Supreme Court precedent. See Darden, 477 U.S. at 181, 106 S.Ct. 2464.