Court Opinion

ID: 9670820
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 03:26:42.975913+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:16:06.631182
License: Public Domain

Hood, P.J.
(dissenting in part). I must respectfully dissent from that portion of the majority opinion that concludes that the prosecutor’s misconduct in this case did not deny defendant a fair *457trial. I believe that the prosecutor’s misconduct in this case was intolerable, and would reverse.
Portions of the prosecutor’s closing argument demonstrate my point, e.g.:
Now as Judge Britten has instructed you, he has removed from your consideration first-degree murder, based upon his assessment of a lack of evidence of premeditation and deliberation.
Like it or not, that at least makes your job easier, because now you have a choice of three verdicts: guilty of murder in the second degree, or guilty of manslaughter, or not guilty.
The prosecutor went on to discuss the elements of second-degree murder. While discussing intent, he stated:
[T]he Defendant took a pillow, took the face of her two-year-old son and purposely brought those two together, held them together until such a time as the baby died, and it wasn’t the first time that she did it. It was really the second time on March the 5th, but she had been doing this other times, too, several times before that.
On March the 5th of 1991, the baby was limp from the first incident. She called to her father, who came into the living room, and the baby was revived. So the father then went back to bed, and she did it again over [after?] a period of time, as best we can tell for about 45 minutes.
This is not just evidence of intent but also shows, in my judgment, premeditation and deliberation. But that’s been removed for (sic) your consideration whether you like it or not.
Still later, while discussing defendant’s conduct on the date of the crime, he said:
She simply did not want this child to live. When the baby got to the hospital, the temperature was *45890.7. In the opinion of Dr. Maino, the baby was already dead when the call for help had been placed and possibly long before that.
This child never had a chance.
On March the 5th of 1991, he was finally released from what had to have been a living hell. For the last four or five months before his death had been filled with pain and terror on the part of that child.
Defendant’s objection to this remark was sustained. The prosecutor then immediately restated his point by saying:
During the four or five months preceding the child’s death, he had been smothered several times, he had been burned on his hand, and he had been overdosed with medication.
On rebuttal, the prosecutor stated:
Mr. Jacobs started his argument by saying this is a serious matter for his client. It certainly is a serious matter for her. It’s also a serious matter for the two-year-old boy, who is now two years forever.
The judge will instruct you that sympathy does not enter into your deliberations. We’d ask that you follow those instructions. If you find yourself feeling sympathy toward the Defendant, well, I’d ask you to balance that out with sympathy toward the two-year-old boy, and do not let sympathy enter into your deliberations.
Mr. Jacobs says the Prosecuting Attorney is still trying to overcharge the case. The facts have not been changed, even though you’re not entitled to consider first-degree anymore.
It still shows an intent to kill; the facts show that she intended to kill; that (sic) facts show that she used premeditation and deliberation as well. However, you’re not permitted to continue (sic) that.
*459Then, in further discussing intent and motive, he stated:
Mr. Jacobs says that she didn’t intend to kill the child. If she had killed the child — or if she had intended to kill the child, then she would not have had a means of getting attention from her husband. Well, of course, the death of a child is a means of getting attention from her husband, and she’s still got the nine-month-old baby to back up. She can still use that child and start smothering him, to get attention from her husband.
A little later, while arguing that defendant’s actions on the day of the crime showed malice, and distinguishing intent from motive, the prosecutor said:
As far as manslaughter versus second-degree murder and first-degree murder is concerned, if I’m driving down the road and I am reading a book, and I’m trying to read and drive at the same time and I kill a pedestrian. Is that gross negligence? Sure. Am I guilty of manslaughter? Of course I am. I shouldn’t be doing that; creating a risk of wanton disregard for the public, for the pedestrian, if I try to read a book and drive down the highway at the same time.
If I drive my car through a safety zone where people are standing, knowing that death or great bodily harm can result from that, then I’m guilty of second-degree murder.
If there is someone that I’m waiting for to cross the street and when that person starts crossing the street I intentionally drive my car into that person and kill him, that’s first-degree murder, because intent to kill plus premeditation and deliberation.
I submit to you that this case is a great deal more severe than manslaughter. This is certainly a second-degree murder, without any doubt.
*460The prosecutor then urged the jury to consider the facts and convict defendant of second-degree murder.
It is well settled that "[t]he role of a prosecutor is to seek justice, not merely to convict.” People v O’Quinn, 185 Mich App 40, 43; 460 NW2d 264 (1990). "The test of prosecutorial misconduct is whether the defendant was denied a fair and impartial trial.” Id. However, a conviction will not be reversed on the basis of remarks to which the defendant did not object unless their prejudicial effect is so great that it could not have been cured by a timely instruction. People v Duncan, 402 Mich 1, 15-17; 260 NW2d 58 (1977).
Here, the prosecutor’s remarks were highly improper. The repeated references to first-degree murder were tantamount to sending that higher charge to the jury even though the trial court had ruled that there was no evidence to support it. See People v Vail, 393 Mich 460, 463-464; 227 NW2d 535 (1975) ("where a jury is permitted consideration of a charge unwarranted by the proofs there is always prejudice because a defendant’s chances of acquittal on any valid charge [are] substantially decreased by the possibility of a compromise verdict”) (emphasis added). The prosecutor further erred by expressing his personal opinion, saying that "in my judgment” the evidence showed not only malice, but also premeditation and deliberation. People v Ignofo, 315 Mich 626, 632-634, 636; 24 NW2d 514 (1946). In effect, the prosecutor told the jury that the court had erred in removing the first-degree murder charge from their consideration and urged them to convict defendant of second-degree murder because it was the highest charge left.
The prosecutor also erred in urging the jury to sympathize with the victim and in deliberately *461playing on the jury’s emotions in violation of the court’s ruling. People v Swartz, 171 Mich App 364, 372; 429 NW2d 905 (1988). He further appealed to the jury’s sense of civic duty by implying that, if defendant did not get convicted, she would start smothering her youngest child in order to get attention from her husband. Id. at 373.
I cannot condone the prosecutor’s deliberate insertion of error and prejudice into the proceedings. People v Robinson, 386 Mich 551, 563-564; 194 NW2d 709 (1972). I am convinced, in the face of numerous and deliberate errors by this prosecutor, that
[u]nless we enforce the rules we encourage their violation and add to the burden of the appellate courts. Our frequent strictures against this kind of argument mean little unless we are prepared to reverse and require a new trial. A prosecutor who crosses a clearly defined line, and a trial judge who makes no effort to stop him, have only themselves, not the appellate courts, to blame if a judgment of conviction is reversed and the case must be retried because of improper argument. [People v Farrar, 36 Mich App 294, 299-300; 193 NW2d 363 (1971).]
I would find the prosecutor’s conduct intolerably offensive to the maintenance of a sound judicial system and, therefore, would reverse despite the fact that defendant’s conviction is supported by the evidence. I further believe that, but for the prosecutor’s improper comments, there was a reasonable possibility that the jury might have resolved disputes regarding intent in favor of the defendant and that she might have been convicted of manslaughter instead of second-degree murder.
Except for this issue, I concur in the majority opinion.