Court Opinion

ID: 9426303
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-02 23:17:30.651809+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:23:00.134809
License: Public Domain

Mr. Chief' Justice Burger,
concurring.
I concur fully with Mr. Justice Stewart’s opinion for the Court. I add an observation only to emphasize what is plainly implicit in the opinion, i. e., a trial judge’s plenary control of the conduct of counsel particularly in relation to addressing the jury.
An opening statement has a narrow purpose and scope. It is to state what evidence will be presented, to make it easier for the jurors to understand what is to follow, and to relate parts of the evidence and testimony to the whole; it is not an occasion for argument. To make statements which will not or cannot be supported by proof is, if it relates to significant elements of the case, professional misconduct. Moreover, it is fundamentally unfair to an opposing party to allow an attorney, with the standing and prestige inherent in being an officer of the court, to present to the jury statements not susceptible of proof but intended to influence the jury in reaching a verdict.
A trial judge is under a duty, in order to protect the integrity of the trial, to take prompt and affirmative action to stop such professional misconduct. Here the misconduct of the attorney, Wagner, was not only unprofessional per se but contemptuous in that he defied the court’s explicit order.
Far from “overreacting” to the misconduct of Wagner, *613in my view, the trial judge exercised great restraint in not citing Wagner for contempt then and there.*

 A bar association conscious of its public obligations would sua sponte call to account an attorney guilty of the misconduct shown here. See Report of American Bar Association Special Committee on Evaluation of Disciplinary Enforcement, Problems and Recommendations in Disciplinary Enforcement 60-66 (Final Draft 1970) ; American Bar Association Project on Standards for Criminal Justice, Administration of Criminal Justice — The Defense Function, § 7.4, p. 131 (1974 Compilation).