Opinion ID: 48740
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Cautionary Instructions

Text: 18 On five separate occasions, the jury was informed that statements by attorneys were not to be treated as evidence: (1) during jury voir dire, (2) prior to opening statements, (3) prior to closing arguments, (4) during defense counsel's closing argument, and (5) in the written jury instructions. Thompson would have us rule that, because the prosecutor repeated his remarks so often and they concerned the sole contested issue at trial, these admonitions to the jury were insufficient to cure any prejudice. We disagree. 19 First, having been presented with evidence exclusively intended either to establish or to call into question Thompson's identity as Rock, the jury likely was keenly aware that (1) it must decide whether this fact was proved beyond a reasonable doubt, and (2) the prosecutor's remarks were part of his argument, and did not amount to testimony, much less unduly influential quasi-expert testimony. Second, the repeated instructions not to consider statements by attorneys as evidence must be assigned some curative effect. These instructions were given at each stage of trial and were repeated before, during, and—in writing—after the prosecutor's assertedly improper closing argument. Finally, the prosecutor's remarks were expressed as conclusions to be drawn from the evidence presented at trial, and any prejudicial impact was negligible. Consequently, we conclude that the cautionary instructions to the jury were more than sufficient to offset any unfair prejudicial effect of the prosecutor's remarks.