Court Opinion

ID: 9672725
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 03:59:17.470593+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:16:17.712392
License: Public Domain

Steele Hays, Justice, dissenting. Without ever saying so, the majority is reversing the trial court for refusing to declare a mistrial because the state made some response in rebuttal to the closing argument of the defense suggesting the state’s only evidence of rape was the uncorroborated claim of the prosecuting witness. When the prosecutor referred to the serologist who had examined items submitted by the complainant to the State Crime Lab but was unable to establish a chain of custody, the defense moved for a mistrial, which the trial court denied. The majority’s assumption that the state called the serologist to the stand after having agreed in a pre-trial conference there was no chain of custody of the evidence so it could then argue to the jury that the defense prevented it from hearing the evidence, is palpably incorrect. There was no pre-trial conference on this issue and no indication whatever of an agreement, but a candid acknowledgement by the prosecutor that he could not establish the requisite chain after the defense had made it clear it would object on that basis. Nor did the state discuss the incident in closing until the defense had argued the alleged victim had not undergone a medical examination. In closing, the defense argued: “But I mention first of all, no medical evidence, no examination by a doctor saying that she had had the sex, no indication of trauma to her body, scars or bruises, scratches, nothing, nothing at all to substantiate her claim that she had sex with the man.” The prosecutor answered: “Now, no objective evidence. The evidence is unrebutted that she went to the Crime Lab for a rape examination. We put Lisa Cooper, the serologist, on the stand. [Defense counsel] is doing his job. He objected to her testimony and we did not hear what that was. He’s doing his job.” Defense counsel objected and later moved for a mistrial on “the prejudicial nature of reference to evidence that is not before the jury.” I find it impossible to draw any firm conclusions from a printed record concerning this dispute. It is one thing for the defense to point out to the jury there is no evidence of a medical examination of the .victim, but quite another thing to say that there was no examination, when in fact there seems to have been. The trial court heard the exchange, told the jury to disregard any remarks of counsel having no basis in the evidence and was in a far better position to judge whether the defense invited the comment or whether the state went too far in response. I would leave his decision undisturbed. We have made it clear in countless cases that reversal of a trial court’s ruling on a mistrial motion is a drastic step-appropriate only in the most extreme cases and when the prejudice is so plain the trial cannot in justice continue. Combs v. State, 270 Ark. 496, 606 S.W.2d 61 (1980); Back v. Duncan, 246 Ark. 494, 438 S.W.2d 690 (1969). This incident hardly meets that standard.