Court Opinion

ID: 9558264
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 17:05:36.655415+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:08:32.149732
License: Public Domain

*1023PARKS, Presiding Judge,
specially concurring.
I agree with the Court’s disposition of this case; and I agree that the prosecutor’s improper comments did not reach the level of fundamental error. However, because improper argument seems to be a chronic condition, this case deserves comment. In this case, two types of improper argument were made.
First, the prosecutor, on more than one occasion, asked the jury to have sympathy for the victim. We have so often decried this tactic that it should not have to be repeated. See e.g. Williams v. State, 658 P.2d 499 (Okl.Cr.1983), and Scott v. State, 649 P.2d 560 (Okl.Cr.1983).
Second, the prosecutor made a number of derogatory references to the defense attorney and his arguments. He said:
“Now, I thought I had heard everything that could be said in a case until this lawyer got up here and tried to besmirch the character and reputation of [L.S.E.] ... counsel knows that fornication in this state is not against the law ... Are you supposed to let this man go because she might have intended to spend the night with [Mr. H.]? I thought I’d heard everything that could be heard. What an absurdity.”
and,
“And I’m offended that [defense counsel] would try to besmirch the character of this dead victim when he sits there representing a man that spent Sunday night watching girls dancing naked and drinking, getting a little high probably, not drunk.”
and,
“We’ve given him more due process of law than he could even have imagined giving [L.S.E.]. And his lawyer has the nerve to stand up here and plead to your sympathy about you hold his future.”
It should be self-evident that this type of remark is not only improper argument, but also unprofessional conduct. Prosecutors can never be justified in such personal attacks on opposing counsel. Mayberry v. State, 603 P.2d 1150 (Okl.Cr.1979).