Court Opinion

ID: 9667819
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 01:55:37.154278+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:15:41.057490
License: Public Domain

*659Kavanagh, C. J.
(dissenting). The closing argument of the prosecutor was highly inflammatory and improper.
We have spoken to this many times, but some prosecutors persist in this practice. We apparently have devised no effective way to prevent it.
This tactic deprives a defendant of a fair trial and because this unfairness can never be repaired, the absence of objection or request for instructions means nothing.
Neither "curative” instructions nor discipline of the offending lawyer will substitute for a fair trial.
I would reverse the conviction.
Williams, J., concurred with Kavanagh, C. J.