Court Opinion

ID: 9456465
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-04 19:54:00.413454+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:34:59.419846
License: Public Domain

ROBB, Circuit Judge,
(concurring):
I concur in the affirmance of the judgment; however, I must respectfully disagree with the majority’s criticism of the prosecutor. The portions of his closing argument which are quoted in the opinion are fragments taken out of context. Also, no reference is made to the argument of the defendant’s counsel *698to which the prosecutor was responding. In that argument counsel painted with a broad brush and with considerable fervor. He accused the prosecutor of attempting to inflame the jury. He repeatedly referred to his client as “Robert” although the prosecutor had not done so in his opening argument. Counsel spoke of “Robert’s” industry, his service in the Navy, his humble abode. He quoted from the Bible. After reading from the transcript of the prosecutor’s opening statement, he said:
“What disturbs me, and what disturbs you, no doubt, is that some people believe that you recompense no man evil for evil. Some people believe that you love those who mistreat you. And some people believe that hatred has no place in your heart. The famous recording of history may be summed up in a few words, ‘Forgive them for they know not what they do.’ ”
Counsel suggested that the jurors should judge not, that they be not judged. He said that “Robert” was “telling the truth, no question about it”,1 and asked “What would he gain by lying?”. In short, counsel delivered a wide-ranging, free-style jury argument.
It was in response to these statements by the appellant’s counsel that the prosecutor made the remarks which are criticized by the majority. Although one of us might not have answered as the prosecutor did, I think we should consider his remarks in context, and in the context of the argument that provoked them. When so considered they do not, in my judgment, merit the majority’s criticism.
I suggest in addition that we should be reluctant to condemn an argument by the prosecutor which evoked no complaint from the defendant’s experienced and able counsel, who heard it, and who apparently accepted it as fair comment on his own remarks.

. See Canons of Professional Ethics Canon 15. “ * * * It is improper for a lawyer to assert in argument his personal belief in his client’s innocence or in the justice of his cause. * *