Court Opinion

ID: 9681703
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 07:55:02.238044+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:17:35.515092
License: Public Domain

On Rehearing.
McCALEB, Justice.
The sole question on this appeal is whether it was reversible error for associate counsel for the prosecution to state during his closing argument to the jury “that he had worked in conjunction with the District Attorney’s Office in all phases of the case since the date of its inception and was convinced that the accused was involved in the matter”. On the original hearing, we held in the negative for three reasons — -viz.: (1) that the statement was not an expression of an opinion of guilt, (2) that, even conceding it to be improper, the error was not reviewable inasmuch as counsel for defendant failed to request the judge to instruct the jury to disregard it and (3) because it was provoked by, and was in answer to, remarks of counsel for defendant in his argument to the jury.
A re-examination of the case has convinced us that the statement of associate counsel for the prosecution that the accused was “involved in the matter” imports that he was of the opinion that the defendant was guilty of the crime charged. It is of course true, as observed in the original opinion, that to say that a person is involved in the charge of receiving stolen property does not necessarily connote that he is guilty because he may have received the property in good faith. But we cannot assume that associate counsel for the State intended that his remark should be thus construed or that the jury, composed of ordinary laymen, considered it in that aspect. On the contrary, it is more reasonable to conclude that counsel intended to impress the jury with his honest belief in defendant’s guilt and that the jury understood it accordingly. Therefore, under normal circumstances, the remark would be considered improper as counsel’s expression of his belief in defendant’s guilt was not founded entirely upon evidence adduced at the trial but upon the investigation made by him in conjunction with the district attorney’s office. State v. Clayton, 113 La. 782, 37 So. 754; State v. Accardo, 129 La. 666, 56 So. 631; State v. Iverson, 136 La. 982, 68 So. 98 and State v. Horton, 151 La. 683, 92 So. 298. See also 53 Am.Jur. “Trial” Section 486 and 23 C.J.S., Criminal Law, § 1104.
We are further of the opinion that it was not necessary for defense counsel to request the judge to instruct the jury to *827disregard the remarks in order to have their impropriety considered on appeal. In the original opinion, it was correctly stated that it has been held, citing State v. Cullens, 168 La. 976, 123 So. 645; State v. Genna, 163 La. 701, 112 So. 655; State v. Glauson, 165 La. 270, 115 So. 484; State v. Sims, 197 La. 347, 1 So.2d 541 and State v. Bryant, 209 La. 918, 25 So.2d 814, that a bill of exceptions taken to the overruling of an objection to a remark made by the district attorney presents nothing for consideration on appeal in the absence of a request by defendant for instructions to the jury to disregard it. However, these pronouncements do not appear to rest on sound footing. Indeed, they require that the defendant do a vain thing for it seems to be utterly futile to request the judge to instruct the jury to disregard an allegedly improper statement when he has already approved it by his action in overruling a timely objection.
An examination of the cases holding that it is essential that defendant request the .judge for instructions, even though his objection to the remarks has been denied, will reveal that the conclusions reached are founded on the ruling in State v. Poole, 156 La. 434, 100 So-. 613, that a bill of exceptions, which does not disclose that counsel for defendant either objected'or requested the court to instruct the jury to ignore the alleged improper statement of the district attorney, presents nothing for consideration on appeal. That decision is manifestly sound, its rationale being that this court cannot pass on a bill when it does-not appear that there was either a -ruling or a request for a ruling by the trial judge. Yett in State v. Cullens and State v. Sims, supra, the deduction in the Poole case was erroneously construed as meaning that defense counsel was obliged to request the court to instruct the jury with reference to the remark complained of notwithstanding his previous objection which was overruled by the court.
We conclude that it is not essential for defense counsel to request instructions to the jury when his objection has been overruled by the judge and the authorities holding otherwise will not be perpetuated.
Whereas we are o-f the opinion that the remarks of associate counsel for the State would have been unwarranted under ordinary circumstances, we adhere to the views expressed in our original opinion that defendant is not entitled to complain for the reason that the statement was provoked by, and made in answer to, the argument of defendant’s attorney imputing the motives of counsel’s association with the prosecution as purely mercenary. It is well settled in this State that “A remark by the prosecuting officer in his closing argument, as a necessary or proper, answer to what has been said in the argument of defendant’s counsel, though otherwise improper, affords no grounds for setting aside a conviction”. See State v. Ellis, 167 La. 390, 119 So. 402, 403, quoting with approval from State v. Morgan, 145 La. 585, 82 So. 711 and State v. Satcher, 124 La. 1015, 50 So. *829835. See also State v. McAdams, 149 La. 779, 90 So. 170; State v. Taylor, 167 La. 1113, 120 So. 875; State v. Sharbino; 194 La. 709, 194 So. 756; State v. Malmay, 209 La. 476, 24 So.2d 869; State v. Borde, 209 La. 905, 25 So.2d 736, 740, and State v. Bryant, supra. The rule is the same in other jurisdictions. • See 53 Am.Jur. “Trial” Section 468 and 23 C.J.S., Criminal Law, § 1108.
In the case at bar, counsel for defendant argued to the jury that associate counsel had enrolled as an assistant prosecutor in an attempt to have defendant convicted so that he would have a good civil suit for the recovery of the value of the stolen meat allegedly received by defendant. This argument was based entirely upon conjecture and was not supported by any evidence in the record. Under the circumstances, defendant cannot complain of the remarks as his counsel invited the necessary and reasonable explanation made by counsel for the State that his association in the case was founded on his belief in defendant’s guilt. The case may be said to be on all fours with State v. Borde, supra, .where the district attorney, in answer to a charge by defense counsel that he did not believe the accused to be guilty, stated that “ ‘if I did not believe that he was guilty he would never have been brought to trial’ ”. It was there ruled that the defendant could not complain of the remark as it was precipitated by his own counsel.
In support of their contention that a prosecutor's remarks, ordinarily improper, are grounds for a reversal of a conviction even though they are provoked by the argument of an opposing attorney, counsel for defendant rely upon State v. Iverson, supra, where it was ruled that an impropriety in argument by defense counsel does not justify a retaliation by the district attorney which is prejudicial to the defendant and that the district attorney has a remedy by objecting to the unfair remarks.
The decision in State v. Iverson is not in harmony with the other above cited jurisprudence on this particular question1 and does not coincide with our convictions. It is our view that, in cases where counsel for defendant depart from the record for the purpose of impugning the motives of the attorney for the prosecution, it would be, as stated in State v. McAdams [149 La. 779, 90 So. 171], supra, “an intolerable situation” that the attorney for the prosecution must remain mute and thereby be denied “the right of vindicating himself before the jury”.
Accordingly, we hold that defendant in this case is not in a position to protest that *831the comment of associate counsel for the State was improper in that it was an expression of opinion of guilt not necessarily-based on evidence adduced at the trial.
For the foregoing reasons, the original decree herein is reinstated as the final judgment of this court.
HAMITER, J., dissents.
HAWTHORNE, J., concurs.

. Compare State v. Brice, 163 La. 392, 111 So. 798, where the argument of the district attorney, which was an appeal to racial prejudice, was sought to be justified on the ground that it was made in answer to a remark of defense counsel. It was ruled, and properly so,. that such an appeal, infringing upon constitutional rights, could not be justified under any circumstances.