Court Opinion

ID: 9765421
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 04:02:27.266881+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:30:09.836788
License: Public Domain

*226ELDRIDGE, Judge,
concurring in part and dissenting in part.
The Supreme Court of the United States expressly held in Griffin v. California, 380 U.S. 609, 85 S.Ct. 1229, 14 L.Ed.2d 106 (1965), that comment by the prosecution on the defendant’s refusal to testify is forbidden by the Fifth Amendment. Furthermore, in Chapman v. California, 386 U.S. 18, 87 S.Ct. 824, 17 L.Ed.2d 705 (1967), the Supreme Court held, under the circumstances, that such comment could not be deemed harmless error.
Departing from the Supreme Court’s Griffin holding, the majority today decides that a defendant who declines to be a witness in the sentencing phase of his capital murder trial invites criticism for failing to take the stand merely because he exercises his state law right of allocution. The majority construes the defendant’s speech in mitigation of his sen*227tence as a waiver of his Fifth Amendment right not to be a witness, and accordingly allows the prosecution to rebuke the defendant for not taking an oath and submitting to cross examination. I disagree.
In his closing argument to the jury in the sentencing phase of this capital murder trial, the prosecutor said:
“[PROSECUTING ATTORNEY]: There is but one reason John Booth did not take the witness stand and present his story as he told it to you in allocution. I’m not so naive a man to believe Mr. Booth would be so moved by the prospect of an oath that he would not break his oath. But, ladies and gentlemen, he stood here and testified, not under oath, for one reason only, to avoid cross-examination.
“[DEFENSE ATTORNEY]: Objection, your Honor.
“THE COURT: Overruled.
“[PROSECUTING ATTORNEY]: I assure you we had some questions for Mr. Booth. I ask you, don’t be conned by this con man, don’t be conned by this man who travels with fifteen names, don’t be conned by a most accomplished liar.”
These statements expressly criticized the defendant for declining to testify under oath and for avoiding cross examination. Such statements should not be included among the responses properly allowed by the majority opinion when a defendant exercises his right to allocute, namely, a rebuttal by record evidence and a reminder that what is said in allocution is not under oath, not subject to cross examination, and not evidence.
Comment on the refusal to testify penalizes the defendant for exercising a constitutional privilege. Griffin v. California, supra, 380 U.S. at 614, 85 S.Ct. at 1232. In fact, long before the Supreme Court’s decision in Griffin, this Court flatly held that such comment violated a defendant’s rights and was improper. Smith v. State, 169 Md. 474, 476, 182 A. 287 (1936). When a timely objection is made, as it was here, and no curative instruction is given, this kind of *228comment ordinarily constitutes clea,r prejudice and requires reversal. Dill v. State, 10 Md.App. 362, 364, 270 A.2d 489 (1970). See also McDonald v. State, 61 Md.App. 461, 476, 487 A.2d 306 (1985).
When a defendant does not take the stand, but nevertheless injects unsupported or disputed factual statements into allocution, jury argument or questions to a witness, some courts have found a limited waiver of the defendant’s privilege to avoid adverse comment on his silence. See, e.g., Jones v. State, 381 So.2d 983 (Miss.), cert. denied, 449 U.S. 1003, 101 S.Ct. 543, 66 L.Ed.2d 300 (1980); Bontempo v. Fenton, 692 F.2d 954 (3d Cir.1982), cert. denied, 460 U.S. 1055, 103 S.Ct. 1506, 75 L.Ed.2d 935 (1983); United States ex rel. Miller v. Follette, 278 F.Supp. 1003 (E.D.N.Y.), aff'd 397 F.2d 363 (2d Cir.,1968), cert. denied, 393 U.S. 1039, 89 S.Ct. 660, 21 L.Ed.2d 585 (1969). The majority relies upon this line of cases. Such reliance, however, is misplaced.
The principal case relied on by the majority is the opinion of the Supreme Court of Mississippi in Jones v. State, supra. In Jones, the defendant declined to testify at the guilt or innocence phase of his trial for murder, but in his argument to the jury at the sentencing phase he made factual allegations unsupported by the record. The Mississippi Court ruled that “the prosecution may comment to the jury that the defendant’s statements were not given under oath and that he was not subject to cross-examination about them.” 381 So.2d at 993. In a subsequent case, Williams v. State, 445 So.2d 798 (Miss.1984), cert. denied, — U.S. —, 105 S.Ct. 803, 83 L.Ed.2d 795 (1985), after the defendant, at the sentencing phase of his murder trial, had made an unsworn statement not supported by the record, the prosecution “commented to the jury, in unfavorable terms, about the [defendant’s] failure to give his version of the facts while under oath and subject to cross examination.” 445 So.2d at 814. The court noted its limited waiver holding in Jones, supra, and held that the prosecution’s comment, along with other errors, required reversal for a new sentencing proceeding. The Mississippi Court thus distin*229guished comments explaining the nature of allocution from comments criticizing the defendant for not giving testimony-
The same distinction appears in State v. Bontempo, 170 N.J.Super. 220, 406 A.2d 203 (1979), and Bontempo v. Fenton, supra, 692 F.2d 954. Both the state and federal post conviction proceedings in Bontempo determined that the prosecution’s comments constituted proper rebuttal to the defendant’s statements and did not amount to comments on the defendant’s failure to testify. 170 N.J.Super at 244-245; 692 F.2d at 959.
Even when defendants represent themselves and try to evade the hazards of taking the stand by interjecting factual statements into their legal defense, courts will protect the defendants’ Fifth Amendment rights and allow the prosecution to comment only “that the defendant’s statements were not given under oath while he was subject to cross examination and that they are, therefore, less weighty than sworn testimony.” United States ex rel. Miller v. Follette, supra, 278 F.Supp. at 1007. The prosecution or court is allowed to comment on the quality of the statements made, but not to comment on the defendant’s decision not to take the stand. State v. Polk, 5 Or.App. 605, 485 P.2d 1241 (1971); State v. Johnson, 121 Wis.2d 237, 358 N.W.2d 824 (1984). See Redfield v. United States, 315 F.2d 76 (9th Cir.1963); Smith v. United States, 234 F.2d 385 (5th Cir.1956); State v. Schultz, 46 N.J. 254, 216 A.2d 372, cert. denied, 384 U.S. 918, 86 S.Ct. 1367, 16 L.Ed.2d 439 (1966).
I agree with the majority that the prosecuting attorney in this case was entitled to tell the jury that evidence includes testimony under oath or subject to cross examination, but I cannot agree that the prosecution is permitted to tell the jury that the defendant did not take the witness stand in order to avoid cross examination.
I concur in the judgment insofar as it upholds the guilty verdicts, but I would remand the case for a new capital sentencing proceeding.