Court Opinion

ID: 9519780
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 01:24:47.631642+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:44:22.238067
License: Public Domain

Brown, J.
(concurring). At the risk of adding a few extra pages to our reports, I am compelled once again to make note of that all too preválent occurrence in criminal trials —• the prosecutor snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. It is patently obvious from the majority opinion, in which I fully concur, that the principal errors the defendant claims occurred at trial could have been avoided by a prosecutor who was striving for a fair trial. Cf. Commonwealth v. Paiva, 16 Mass. App. Ct. 561, 563 (1983). All these errors appropriately may be denominated self-inflicted wounds.
*367I think that the “snatch defeat” language should be appearing for its final unwelcome encore. Either the prosecutors are going to do it right1 or they will not be able to do it at all. For action which has been suggested in another jurisdiction, set American Auto Assn., Inc. v. Rothman, 104 F. Supp. 655, 656 (S.D. N.Y. 1952).2
The closing argument was unfair and unprofessional. Here fifteen minutes of thoughtful and careful preparation would have saved the Commonwealth much time and expense. The admonition not to sail “unnecessarily close to the wind” (Commonwealth v. Redmond, 370 Mass. 591, 597 [1976]) is in direct response to such careless overreaching in final argument. It cannot be gainsaid that proper, as well as effective, argument requires careful preparation. See, e.g., Commonwealth v. Haas, 373 Mass. 545, 557 & n.11 (1977). See also Commonwealth v. Earltop, 372 Mass. 199, 206 (1977) (Hennessey, C. J., concurring).

 For an example of sound professionalism, see Commonwealth v. Woolridge, 19 Mass. App. Ct. 162, 164 & 173 (Brown, J., concurring) (1985).

 “This opinion should be filed separately in the office of the Clerk of this Court, and indexed against the name of the [prosecutor], so that, in the event that his professional conduct in any other connection shall become a subject of inquiry, this case and this record can be referred to for such instruction as it may yield.” Ibid.