Court Opinion

ID: 9796193
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-31 03:51:47.397677+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T08:48:02.354717
License: Public Domain

MecHUGH, Judge
(concurring in result):
I 26 While I agree with my colleagues that the decision of the trial court should be affirmed, I write separately to indicate my differing view on the challenge to Christensen's closing argument. Although I agree that the narrow use of the Liebeck v. McDonald's, No. CV-93-02419, 1995 WL 360309, at *1 (N.M. Dist. Aug.18, 1994), decision was not prejudicial, I would hold that it was improper. Furthermore, I do not read State v. Alonzo, 932 P.2d 606 (Utah Ct.App.1997), affd, 973 P.2d 975 (Utah 1998), as approving the introduction of such extraneous matter during closing argument.
127 The Alongo defendants claimed that police officers had used excessive force against them and, in closing argument, cited the prison sentences imposed on the police officers involved in the Rodney King case as an example of why police officers would be motivated to lie about their use of force against a defendant. See id. at 614-15. The trial court overruled the State's objections to the references, but gave the jury a limiting instruction that allowed it to consider the references only to the extent they related to the credibility of the police officers. See id. at 615. Credibility was at issue because the stories of the defendants and those of the police officers about the cireumstances of the arrest varied greatly and because the prosecution had suggested that the defendants had a motive to lie. See id. at 609, 614-15. After deliberations, the jury found the defendants guilty of assault on a police officer. See id. at 610.
128 On appeal to this court, the defendants argued that the limitations on the use of the Rodney King references constituted prejudicial error. See id. at 615. This court affirmed, holding that "the trial court's re*64strictions on defense counsel's references to the 'Rodney King' officers were not improper." Id. On certiorari, the supreme court agreed that "the trial court properly restrict, ed certain references to Rodney King as material the jury should not consider." State v. Alonzo, 973 P.2d 975, 981 (Utah 1998). However, neither this court nor the supreme court was asked to consider the issue present here-whether the references to the unrelated case were proper at all.
129 After acknowledging the broad latitude generally available in presenting closing arguments, the supreme court in Alongo stated, "[Sluch latitude does not extend to counsel calling the jury's attention to material that the jury would not be justified in considering in its verdict." Id. at 981. Indeed, the opinion issued by this court, which was affirmed by the supreme court, is more explicit:
Although counsel has considerable latitude in closing arguments, the trial court could have reasonably concluded that defense counsel was exceeding the bounds of this discretion when counsel referred to the Rodney King officers The trial court could have determined that defense counsel's references to Rodney King were an attempt to inflame the jury or suggest that because the Rodney King officers were found guilty, the officers in this case were also guilty of using excessive force.
Alongo, 932 P.2d at 615 (emphasis added). If the trial court could have excluded the references entirely as inflammatory, it is not surprising that the limitations placed on the use of the Rodney King argument did not constitute prejudicial error.
T 30 Moreover, in Alongo, the Rodney King references could be considered by the jury only in weighing the credibility of the police officers and their motive to lie. See id. at 615-16. These matters were legitimately at issue due to the differences between the testimony of the officers and that of the defendants, and by the State's suggestion that only the defendants had a motive to lie. Here, there is nothing relevant about the Liebeck case. Christensen's closing argument suggests that the allegedly excessive verdict in Liebeck was caused by that jury's use of a per diem analysis like the one Mr. Boyle had proposed in this case. As Mr. Boyle correctly notes, however, the damages perceived by members of the public to be excessive in Liebeck were punitive damages and did not involve a per diem analysis. See Liebeck v. McDonald's, No. CV-98-02419, 1995 WL 360309, at *1 (N.M. Dist. Aug.18, 1994). Thus, unlike the Rodney King references in Alonzo, the reference to Liebeck had no arguable relevance to this case.
$31 Under these cireumstances, I would hold that the references to the McDonald's coffee case improperly "callled] the jury's attention to material that the jury would not [have been] justified in considering in its verdict." Alonzo, 973 P.2d at 981. Moreover, the fact that the Liebeck case is "conic," "synonymous with excessive verdicts," or even infamous would make me more inclined to find its use in oral argument improper rather than less so inclined. Suproe T17.