Court Opinion

ID: 9730987
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 15:29:53.030741+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:26:11.905048
License: Public Domain

Hennessey, C.J.
(concurring). I agree that the judgment should be affirmed, but I believe that it is time, and past time, for some plain speaking on the subject of overreaching closing arguments by prosecutors. In the instant case this court concludes — and I concur — that the Commonwealth’s impermissible argument was not so egregious as to be incurable by the corrective instructions of the *205judge. However, this case is just one of a rash of similar instances in recent years where the trial judges, and later the Appeals Court or this court, have had to engage in an inquiry as to whether clear prejudice to the defendant has been offset by curative instructions. In stating that prosecutors have a duty to avoid such arguments, I have no intention of intruding on the prosecutors’ privilege and duty to argue the public’s case aggressively and resourcefully. However, this duty does not confer a license for impermissible argument.
The scope of proper argument is simply stated. Counsel may argue as to the evidence and the fair inferences from the evidence. Leone v. Doran, 363 Mass. 1, 18 (1973). Trial counsel are or should be familiar with the specifics of “fair” argument within the rule, as set out in many cases, some of them of constitutional dimension.
That prosecutors are frequently not familiar with the boundaries of argument, or choose to ignore them, is shown by the list of cases set out in the margin, as culled from the reports of just the past two years.1 In some cases we *206have reversed and ordered new trials; in more cases we have determined that the prejudice was not shown or that sufficient remedy was achieved by curative instruction by the judge.
Prejudicial excesses in argument offered on behalf of the Commonwealth constitute prosecutorial error, not judicial error. After days or weeks of trial the trial judge is placed in a dilemma. A mistrial may be declared only at great public expense. The judge’s usual recourse is to curative instructions; the appellate court may or may not agree with his decision.
The risks of prejudice to the defendant’s right to a fair trial, and the public’s interest in avoiding unnecessary retrials, may easily be avoided in most instances. Preliminary thought by counsel must be devoted to the argument. Totally extemporaneous argument may more readily bring about the error. Spontaneity is required in some measure to meet the defendant’s argument, it is true. This court has given modest recognition to the “fight fire with fire” concept. See Commonwealth v. Burnett, 371 Mass. 13, 19 (1976). Here, also, the better course, when defense counsel has overstepped in argument, is to seek redress from the judge rather than to reply in kind by overstepping in rebuttal.
Finally, I have no wish to inhibit the prosecution with an unnecessarily cautious approach. The public is entitled to have the most effective argument advanced that can fairly be made. I suggest that the prosecutor can make just such an argument, and at the same time minimize the risk of error, by requesting a preliminary discussion with the judge out of the jury’s hearing as to the propriety of the prosecutor’s intended remarks.
I do not mean to suggest that defense counsel do not also at times offer invalid argument. Nevertheless, the nature of our process is such that review and reversal can fol*207low only the error of the prosecutor. This is not to say that the defense lawyer should not look with care on his duty to the court, as well as to his client, in preparing his argument. Preliminary discussion with the judge may also be indicated. The defendant’s cause with a jury is, to say the least, probably not assisted when the judge finds it necessary within the hearing of the jury to label a defense argument as impermissible.
In recent years the same types of “prosecutorial errors” are offered in case after case. It is my thought that this court should in the future stand more ready to reverse the judgments in such cases, particularly when it appears that the simple precautions suggested herein have not been invoked.

 Commonwealth v. Gouveia, 371 Mass. 566, 570-572 (1976) (new trial denied despite repeated allusions by implication to the defendant’s failure to testify). Commonwealth v. DeChristoforo, 371 Mass. 26, 38 (1976) (new trial denied despite expressions of personal belief in the defendant’s guilt and in defense awareness of such guilt). Commonwealth v. Burnett, 371 Mass. 13, 18-19 (1976) (new trial denied despite expression of personal belief in guilt and sympathy for victim). Commonwealth v. Borodine, 371 Mass. 1, 9-12 (1976) (new trial denied despite comments on the defendant’s failure to testify, lack of remorse and knowledge of own guilt). Commonwealth v. Killelea, 370 Mass. 638, 644-649 (1976) (new trial granted because of repeated erroneous assertions that a verdict of not guilty by reason of insanity would set the defendant free). Commonwealth v. Redmond, 370 Mass. 591, 594-597 (1976) (new trial granted because of speculation, without evidentiary support, that the defendant had tried to rape victim before murder). Commonwealth v. MacDonald (No. 1), 368 Mass. 395, 400-401 (1975) (new trial denied despite comments that defense testimony was perjured and despite derogatory comments on the characters of the defendant and the defense witnesses). Commonwealth v. Graziano, 368 Mass. 325, 331-332 (1975) (new trial granted because of appeals to ethnic prejudice). Commonwealth v. Ramey, 368 Mass. 109, 111-113 (1975) (new trial denied despite comments on missing evidence). Commonwealth v. Gilday, 367 Mass. 474, 496-497 (1975) (new trial denied despite reference to the defendant as an “old pro”). Commonwealth v. *206Coleman, 366 Mass. 705, 713-715 (1975) (new trial denied despite pros-ecutorial assertion that killing was intentional). Commonwealth v. Barras, 3 Mass. App. Ct. 43, 49-50 (1975) (new trial denied despite derogatory descriptions of the defendant’s character).