Court Opinion

ID: 9884306
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-10-06 02:52:02.892472+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:48:37.507060
License: Public Domain

Mr. Justice Schaefer, dissenting: In the course of his argument to the jury one of the prosecutors stated: “I also want to apologize to the ladies and gentlemen of the jury, for both Mr. Siet [another prosecutor] and myself, who forgot to ask some of these witnesses a very important question. I forgot to ask them, as did Mr. Siet, ‘Did you get paid for your testimony ?’ ” This remark was not based upon the evidence or upon inferences flowing from the evidence. To me its unmistakable implication is that the prosecutors knew that the defense witnesses .were paid for their testimony, but unfortunately forgot to put that fact before the jury. I think that the remark was sufficiently prejudicial to require a new trial.