Court Opinion

ID: 9783607
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-30 19:50:45.893783+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:35:26.777091
License: Public Domain

GOLDEN, Justice,
specially concurring.
[¶ 34] I write separately to comment on Moore’s complaint that the prosecutor erred when in rebuttal closing he told the jury that the prosecutor had undercharged Moore, that Moore’s threatening Brian Moore with death using the gun was an aggravated assault that wasn’t charged, and that Moore’s confining the four children could have been charged as kidnapping. Moore acknowledges that trial defense counsel did not object to the prosecutor’s argument and, therefore, he must demonstrate plain error on appeal. Moore contends that at a minimum the prosecutor’s “undercharged” argument violates one of the guidelines found in I A.B.A. Standards for Criminal Justice 3-5.8 at 3.87 to 3.88 (2d ed.1980) as referred to in Dysthe v. State, 2003 WY 20, ¶ 24, 63 P.3d 875, 885 (Wyo.2003) (citing Wilks v. State, 2002 WY 100, ¶ 27, 49 P.3d 975, 986-87 (Wyo.2002)):
(d) The prosecutor should refrain from argument which would divert the jury from its duty to decide the case on the evidence, by injecting issues broader than the guilt *200or innocence of the accused under the controlling law, or by making predictions of the consequences of the jury’s verdict.
Moore claims the prosecutor’s “undercharged” argument injected into the trial issues that were not in evidence and were broader than the charges the jury was to decide. Moore has not cited, however, any specific case directly on point.
[¶ 35] Responding to Moore’s complaint, the State tells us the “rest of the story,” namely, that the prosecutor’s “undercharged” comment was a reasonable antidote to trial defense counsel’s closing argument statement to the jury that Moore “has been overcharged in this situation and that his conduct does not rise to the level of those six felony charges.” The State has not cited, however, any specific case directly on point.
[¶ 36] The Court holds that because Moore “opened the door,” the prosecutor’s antidote was proper. I respectfully disagree. Trial defense counsel’s “overcharged” comment properly directs the jury’s attention to that conduct of Moore’s which the prosecution has used to support the official charges filed against him. In contrast, the prosecutor’s “undercharged” comment improperly diverts the jury’s attention to conduct of Moore’s that the prosecution consciously chose not to use as. support for additional charges. I would hold that the prosecutor’s “undercharged” comments stepped 'over the line and were not a reasonable antidote; but I would further hold that Moore has not proved that a substantial right has been denied him and, as a result, he has been materially prejudiced. By reference to the entire record, I am not convinced that the prosecutor’s comments had a deleterious effect on the jury’s verdict.