# Commonwealth v. Ayoub

> Massachusetts Appeals Court · September 2, 2010 · 77 Mass. App. Ct. 563

URL: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/6463840

## Case

- **Full name:** Commonwealth v. Antoine Ayoub
- **Court:** Massachusetts Appeals Court
- **Decided:** September 2, 2010
- **Citations:** 77 Mass. App. Ct. 563; 933 N.E.2d 133; 2010 Mass. App. LEXIS 1175
- **Precedential status:** Published
- **Opinion:** Dissent by Brown
- **Judges:** Brown, Sikora
- **Cited by:** 3 later opinions in the Frix Law Library

## Citator (automated)

- No negative treatment found by the automated citator. That is not the same as a confirmation that the case is good law; read the citing cases.
- Full citator and citing cases: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/6463840

## Opinion text

Brown, J.
(dissenting). The prosecutor’s closing argument was way over-the-top. “It is long past time for prosecutors to prepare their closing arguments carefully in order to avoid the possibility of reversals of convictions because of prosecutorial error.” Commonwealth v. O’Brien, 377 Mass. 772, 778 (1979). How many times does this court and the Supreme Judicial Court have to admonish prosecutors to prepare carefully closing arguments? See, e.g., Commonwealth v. Kelly, 417 Mass. 266, 270-272 (1994); Commonwealth v. Loguidice, 420 Mass. 453, 454-457 (1995); Commonwealth v. Silva-Santiago, 453 Mass. 782, 807-808 (2009); Commonwealth v. McLeod, 30 Mass. App. Ct. 536, 541 (1991), and cases cited. We have even suggested that if prosecutors are unsure as to what to include in a closing speech, they seek guidance from the trial judge as to whether their proposed remarks would be “beyond permissible limits” of proper argument or perhaps even “sail[ing] unnecessarily close to the wind.” See Commonwealth v. Redmond, 370 Mass. 591, 597 (1976). See also Commonwealth v. Phoenix, 409 Mass. 408, 428 (1991), and cases cited therein.

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Source: Frix Law Library, https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/6463840. Public record. Not legal advice.