Court Opinion

ID: 9661556
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-23 22:42:38.763943+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:14:30.268133
License: Public Domain

REINHARD, Judge,
dissenting.
I respectfully dissent.
The principal point that defendant raises on appeal, for which the majority reverses, is prosecutorial misconduct during closing argument. The state contends that defendant neither properly objected nor preserved his objections in his motion for new trial. Defendant’s objections leave much to be desired and there is a debatable issue as to whether or not they were properly preserved in the motion for new trial. However, I agree with the majority to treat defendant’s complaints as if they were properly preserved.
The law is clear that it is improper to personalize to the jury, State v. Paxton, 453 S.W.2d 923, 926 (Mo.1970), or argue matters not in evidence during closing argument, State v. Connell, 523 S.W.2d 132, 137 (Mo.App.1975). I agree with the majority that the prosecutor’s argument went too far and constituted error.
However, it is not every improper remark or every instance of a prosecutor exceeding the limits of proper argument that will constitute ground for reversal. State v. Williams, 588 S.W.2d 70, 74 (Mo.App.1979); State v. Knapp, 534 S.W.2d 465, 469 (Mo.App.1976). In order for such arguments to constitute reversible error, they must be plainly unwarranted and clearly injurious. State v. Kimmins, 514 S.W.2d 381, 382 (Mo.App.1974); State v. Hoskins, 569 S.W.2d 235, 236 (Mo.App.1978); State v. Williams, 588 S.W.2d 70, 74 (Mo.App.1979) (erroneously prejudicial).
*367Consequently, the principle espoused in State v. Degraffenreid, 477 S.W.2d 57, 65 (Mo. banc 1972) by Judge Bardgett is controlling, “[e]rror, which in a close case might call for reversal may be disregarded as harmless when the evidence of guilt is strong.” This principle was recently reaffirmed by Judge Rendlen, speaking for the Supreme Court, in State v. Ford, 639 S.W.2d 573, 576 (Mo.1982).
I believe that the majority opinion conflicts with Degraffenreid and Ford when it acknowledges that “[i]t is distasteful to retry a case where the evidence supporting guilt is so strong.” (emphasis added). Indeed it was a strong case. The evidence of the victim’s identification, the circumstances of defendant’s arrest, the location of his name tag in his uniform pocket precisely where the victim stated he placed it, and the finding of semen on his underclothes, pants, and shirt along with all the other facts and circumstances, created an extremely strong case against defendant. Moreover, while not excusing the prosecuting attorney’s statements to the jury, comments directed to the jury by the defense attorney had already “personalized” this case to some extent. During voir dire, the defendant’s attorney stated:
I think that rape cases have a lot of emotional appeal for all of us. But I think maybe women such as myself react to the charge of rape very, very much whether in anger or whether in frustration that it goes on. I don’t know but I think that men react in anger to the extent their wives, their girlfriends, or sisters or someone they know is concerned but how do you feel about sitting on a jury where that is the charge.
The majority opinion cites State v. Tiedt, 357 Mo. 115, 206 S.W.2d 524 (banc 1947) as authority for reversing this case. I do not find Tiedt controlling. In Tiedt, defendant was convicted of first degree murder and sentenced to death. Besides that matter quoted by the majority, the Court explained its decision by stating:
in a matter so grave as urging in argument considerations affecting the exercise of the jury’s discretion to choose between punishing capitally or imposing a life sentence, inflammatory appeals to arouse bias and hostility toward defendant, ... cannot be sanctioned.
206 S.W.2d at 529.
This was not a capital case. Nonetheless, the majority opinion asserts that the prosecutor’s closing argument affected the assessment of punishment. I disagree. Defendant was charged with an offense that carried with it a maximum punishment of life and a minimum punishment of five years. The prosecuting attorney asked that the jury assess a punishment of ninety nine years. Apart from any remarks of the prosecuting attorney, the jury was well aware of the viciousness of the crime and the terrible ordeal which the victim underwent. The victim was violently assaulted by a total stranger in broad daylight in a downtown St. Louis parking garage. Defendant’s own attorney acknowledged in closing argument that the victim “went through a terrible affair” and that was a matter for the jury to consider in assessing punishment. Defendant’s attorney never spoke in her closing argument to the length of sentence or mitigation of sentence. Forty eight years in the penitentiary does not establish under the facts and circumstances of this case that the sentence assessed by the jury was the result of passion and prejudice induced by the prosecuting attorney’s argument.
Much of the majority’s opinion appears directed at sending the prosecutor a “message” because of his misconduct. In State v. Smothers, 605 S.W.2d 128, 132 (Mo. banc 1980), the Supreme Court, with Judge Higgins speaking for the Court, held that a criminal case should not be reversed for the purposes of discipling and deterring prosecutors. The issue in this case “is not whether the prosecuting attorney should be disciplined for improper conduct” but whether defendant received a fair trial. Id. As I have already stated, considering the entire record, he did so. The mechanism for discipline of attorneys is provided for elsewhere in our system. This case *368involves a conflict between two messages. On the one hand the majority wants to send a message to the prosecutor that he has hit a “foul blow.” On the other hand, society must send a message to those such as defendant who violate the bodies of women against their will. I do not believe that we should send the prosecutor a message at the expense of society’s message to rapists.
In summary, I do not find that the prose-cutorial argument was prejudicially erroneous to the defendant; that when weighed against the entire record it was prejudicial and tipped the scales as to a fair trial against the defendant; that in light of the strength of the state’s case against defendant under Supreme Court guidelines any error was harmless. I would affirm the judgment.1

. I do not believe defendant’s other point on appeal has merit. He contends the trial court erred in failing to strike a juror who stated that he would give more weight to a police officer’s testimony than another witness. The court should have stricken the prospective juror. However, this is not grounds for reversal because the police testimony in this case did not prove any of the elements of the state’s case. This position is supported by a recent Western District case, State v. Butler, 660 S.W.2d 225 (Mo.App.1983), transfer denied, December 20, 1983. It appears from footnote one that the majority would rule contrary to Butler.