Court Opinion

ID: 9763662
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 02:51:44.866559+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:29:47.644081
License: Public Domain

O’BRIEN, Judge,
dissenting.
I must dissent from the majority opinion. I conclude that defendant’s complaint about the volunteered, prejudicial comments of the prosecutor, Jim Richards, must be sustained. While the appellate courts of this State have affirmed the convictions in a multitude of drug cases based on evidence no greater than the testimony of an undercover agent relating purchase of an item established as a controlled substance, from an identified defendant, it cannot be denied that in such cases there is often no overwhelming evidence of guilt. The trial *299judge qualified his curative instructions in this case by saying, “... Now, at this time, at least, I’ll ask you to disregard it and please do not consider it for any purpose ...” This was a vague and illusory form of instruction which could easily have lead the jury astray. A few pages further in the record the same witness interjected the comment, “knowing Mr. Barton’s reputation, I wanted to buy as much as I could ...” He was interrupted by the trial judge who admonished him not to refer to that. Without imputing any improper intent to the prosecuting witness in making the statements which he did, it is obvious that his zeal to insure a conviction in a case which swung on his testimony impelled him to repeat matters within his personal knowledge which were outside the record in the case. The repetition of comments of this nature could not help but influence the jury in reaching their decision. This was obviously not a strong case with only the testimony of the prosecuting witness to provide any of the evidence to show the actual occurrence of a sale in the first instance, or if the intent of the defendant was to sell a controlled substance, or to defraud the undercover agent by selling him a harmless substitute. The indictment itself which charged in one count the sale of a controlled substance, and in the second count false and fraudulent pretense of selling a controlled substance indicates the frailty of the State’s case.
I would reverse the judgment of conviction and remand the case for a new trial.