Opinion

Thompson v. State

  • 748 P.2d 526
  • 1988 OK CR 2
  • 1988 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 5
  • 1988 WL 363
Court
Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma
Filed
Jan 5, 1988
Status
Published
Author
Parks
On the bench
Brett, Bussey, Parks
Cited by
6 cases
Authority
More cited than 7.1%

The opinion

PARKS, Judge,

concurring in results:

I address only the issue of prosecutorial misconduct. While I must agree that the improper comments in this case do not rise to the level of fundamental error requiring reversal, I cannot allow such comments to go unnoticed.

During closing arguments, the prosecutor made direct comments about the conscience of the community, and played on the jury’s emotions with comments amounting to societal alarm. Comments of this sort are impermissible as they channel the jury’s attention away from the basic duty of determining guilt or innocence. Womble v. State, 663 P.2d 747, 749 (Okla.Crim.App.1983). However, defense counsel failed to object to these comments. Therefore, this Court may review only for fundamental error and because I agree that these comments do not constitute fundamental error, I concur in the result reached.

This is a copy of a public record, reproduced as it was published. It is not legal advice, and it may not be the version a court would rely on. Check the official source before you cite it.

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