Court Opinion

ID: 9777998
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 20:29:49.525572+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:33:02.995646
License: Public Domain

BLACKMAR, Judge,
concurring in result.
The prosecutor engaged in highly improper questioning on voir dire, and sim*871ilarly improper closing argument, in violation of the teachings of Caldwell v. Mississippi, — U.S. -, 105 S.Ct. 2633, 86 L.Ed.2d 231 (1985). The principal opinion minimizes the degree of misconduct, even to the point of appearing to condone it.
The prosecutor began on voir dire, asking questions such as the following:
Q. Does everyone understand' one possible punishment is life without probation or parole for 50 years? Another is recommending the Judge to consider sentence of death. Do all understand? I believe Sheridan indicated she holds no feelings one way or the other, if given a proper case she could consider recommending the sentence to the Judge of death; is that right?
Q. Mr. Tharp, I am going to ask you the magic question. Do you have any ethical moral or religious scruples against the death penalty such that you could not under any case consider recommending to the Judge that he consider imposing sentence of death? (Emphasis supplied).
Questions speaking in terms of “recommend” or “recommendation” are asked at least 90 times. The questions apparently are so understood by jurors, as the following excerpt shows:
I think I feel certain — that I wouldn’t want even though, even you are saying it would be a recommendation from me I just feel like I would be too much of a party of taking someone’s life. (Emphasis supplied).
Then, on closing argument, the prosecutor continued in the same vein.
All I want you to do is give Judge McKenzie the right to find out the background of this guy so, in fact, if it is justified he can do it. Now, you know a little bit about Roy Roberts, just a little bit, and I am asking you — I asked Father Wheeler. I said do you have any argument with the system that allows jurors to recommend to the Judge that he can consider it after full and fair consideration of the background of this Defendant and what he has done in his lifetime. I am not asking you to put Roy Roberts to death. I am just asking you to give the Judge the opportunity to study it and make a conscious well thought out decision about what is fair and just. (Emphasis supplied).
Argument of this kind has consistently been condemned. In State v. Lewis, 443 S.W.2d 186 (Mo.1969), this Court found plain error in the prosecutor’s arguing that the jury’s sentence would not be of great significance because of the availability of parole. We found that this argument minimized the importance of the jury’s task and the depth of its responsibility.
Other courts have announced similar holdings in capital cases. Fleming v. State, 240 Ga. 142, 240 S.E.2d 37 (1977); State v. White, 286 N.C. 395, 211 S.E.2d 445 (1975). Some have directed reversal even in the absence of objection. State v. Jones, 296 N.C. 495, 251 S.E.2d 425 (1979); State v. Gilbert, 273 S.C. 690, 258 S.E.2d 890 (1979).
In Caldwell, 105 S.Ct. at 2639, the Court said:
On reaching the merits, we conclude that it is constitutionally impermissible to rest a death sentence on a determination made by a sentencer who has been led to believe that the responsibility for determining the appropriateness of the defendant’s death rests elsewhere.
Justice O’Connor concurred in this part of the opinion. She questioned only Part 4-A of Justice Marshall’s opinion for the Court, expressing the thought that a state might properly instruct a capital jury as to the authority of the trial judge, the appellate courts, and the executive authority on a sentence of death.
This prosecutor was not trying to impart accurate information. The statement that the jury’s function is that of “recommending to the judge to consider sentence of *872death” is highly misleading as a description of present Missouri practice. Under the climate presently prevailing a circuit judge would risk his career if he were to set aside a death verdict rendered by a jury. This particular trial judge stated, immediately following the return of the verdict, that he intended to pronounce the sentence in accordance with the verdict. The closing argument also intimated that the sentencing judge would have recourse to information which had not been presented to the jury. The prosecutor was not trying to instruct the jury; he was trying to divert the jurors. He was suggesting, contrary to the scheme of our death penalty statutes, that the jury’s role was not primary in determining whether the ultimate sanction was to be exacted.
It is not necessary, however, to probe more deeply with Caldwell and the other federal cases. We are responsible for controlling the scope of argument in our state courts and should hold, unequivocally, that prosecutors act improperly in attempting to minimize the jury’s responsibility in cases in which sentencing is a jury function.
I am also concerned about the apparent effort of the prosecutor to indicate that the defendant had a prior homicide conviction. Advocates of capital punishment1 often use the spectre of the repeat killer in support of their arguments. The prosecutor was not justified in seizing upon a line from defense counsel’s opening statement to suggest something which was contrary to fact. But no objection was made, and defendant’s criminal convictions were accurately detailed during the penalty phase, and so I am not persuaded that there was plain error.
With regard to the repeated attempts to minimize the jury’s role, I would not hesitate to find plain error if the case was a less aggravated one. The prosecutor’s contentions are subversive of the statutory plan. In a situation of this kind, the judge should not simply remain silent until objection is made. There are times when the court must intervene in argument, to prevent distortion of the law. I can conceive of no strategic or tactical reason for defense counsel’s silence. I hope that argument of this kind will not be again brought before this Court.
For those who believe in the death penalty, however, the killing of an unarmed prison guard presents a compelling case. The jury could have found that this defendant was one of the primary actors. Because of the grossness of the defendant’s conduct and the absence of objection to the improper argument, I do not believe that a retrial of the penalty phase is necessary. I join in the vote to affirm the conviction and sentence.