Court Opinion

ID: 9732100
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 16:07:53.103425+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:26:23.256538
License: Public Domain

EAKIN, J.,
dissenting:
¶ 1 The trial court acknowledged counsel’s comments regarding financial motivations “may be considered unjustified and *566improper,” but also commented that, in its opinion, such statements “were not so inflammable and prejudicial to the jury so as to malign the fairness of the proceedings.” Trial Court Opinion, 6/11/99, at 7. I cannot find enough of record to overturn this first-hand determination. While the remarks and evidence concerning the parents’ conduct could be deemed unjustified and improper, and certainly should not be imputed to the child, I have considered carefully the trial court’s curative instruction and conclude it was adequate to remove any prejudicial effect on the jury. The instruction specifically and emphatically directed the jury to disregard such evidence, and I would therefore affirm the learned trial court.