Court Opinion

ID: 9537632
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 07:20:38.717013+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T14:56:50.604022
License: Public Domain

CORNISH, Judge,
dissenting:
I am of the view that the State impermis-sibly commented upon appellant’s exercise of his right to remain silent and that this constituted fundamental error. Dungan v. State, 651 P.2d 1064 (Okl.Cr.1982) and Harris v. State, 645 P.2d 1036 (Okl.Cr.1982). The prosecutor’s statement during closing argument that, “We’ve proven all the elements of Murder in the First Degree. And there’s one witness that did not take the witness stand. There’s one.” is inescapably a reference to appellant’s failure to take the witness stand.
Dungan and Harris deal with a slightly different aspect of the Fifth Amendment right to remain silent, that being freedom from prosecutorial evidence of defendant’s post-arrest silence. In those cases we held that proof of such was fundamental error and survived defense counsel’s failure to object. Freedom from a prosecutorial comment regarding the defendant’s failure to give testimonial evidence is an aspect of the Fifth Amendment privilege of equal import. Violation here is fundamental error which is not waived by defense counsel’s failure to object.