State v. Smith, 10
Citation | 279 N.C. 163,181 S.E.2d 458 |
Decision Date | 10 June 1971 |
Docket Number | No. 10,10 |
Court | North Carolina Supreme Court |
Parties | STATE of North Carolina v. Curtis Eugene SMITH. |
Robert L. Morgan, Atty. Gen., by Eugene A. Smith, Asst. Atty. Gen., and Walter E. Ricks, III, Raleigh, Associate Atty., for the State.
Craighill, Rendleman & Clarkson by John R. Ingle, Charlotte, for defendant appellant.
As a part of the case on appeal the defendant has placed in the record what purports to be the full text of the solicitor's argument to the jury. To many portions of the argument the defendant noted exceptions. These were inserted in the record of the case on appeal. Objection seems not to have been made to the Court during the delivery of the argument.
We record here some of the quotes from the solicitor's argument:
In characterizing the defendant, the solicitor said that a man who would do what this woman says this defendant did is 'lower than the bone belly of a cur dog.'
During the State's evidence, the investigating officer had quoted the defendant as saying that he worked for his employer, the bus company, on May 8, 1969. The solicitor said: Exhibit #2 introduced in evidence by the State was the bus company's work record showing that on May 8, 1969, the defendant began work at 5:43 a.m., was off duty from 9:26 a.m. until 2:22 p.m. and was checked out at 5:14 p.m.
In discussing the defendant's evidence of his good character the solicitor said:
The foregoing are the more flagrant of the solicitor's transgressions. Too much of his argument, however, was pitched in the same tone. When the prosecutor becomes abusive, injects his personal views and opinions into the argument before the jury, he violates the rules of fair debate and it becomes the duty of the trial judge to intervene to stop improper argument and to instruct the jury not to consider it. Especially is this true in a capital case. When it is made to appear the trial judge permitted the prosecutor to become abusive, to inject his personal experiences, his views and his opinions into the argument before the jury, it then becomes the duty of the appellate court to review the argument. 'In these circumstances prejudice to the cause of the accused is so highly probable that we are not justified in assuming its nonexistence.' Berger v. United States, 295 U.S. 78, 55 S.Ct. 629, 79 L.Ed. 1314. See also State v. Smith, 240 N.C. 631, 83 S.E.2d 656; State v. Dockery, 238 N.C. 222, 77 S.E.2d 664.
In State v....
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State v. Brown
...misconduct nor such improprieties as those involved in State v. Britt, 288 N.C. 699, 220 S.E.2d 283 (1975), or State v. Smith, 279 N.C. 163, 181 S.E.2d 458 (1971). Nor does the record reveal an attempt to argue matters not legitimately arising on the evidence. Compare State v. Roach, 248 N.......
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State v. Pinch
...frequent reminders to the jury that it would have to determine what the appropriate punishment should be. 12 Compare State v. Smith, 279 N.C. 163, 181 S.E.2d 458 (1971). The characterization of defendant's mind as a "cesspool" cannot be deemed unfair in light of defendant's own admissions t......
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State v. Craig, 257A82
...State v. Kirkley, 308 N.C. 196, 302 S.E.2d 144 (1983); State v. Johnson, 298 N.C. 355, 259 S.E.2d 752 (1979). In State v. Smith, 279 N.C. 163, 181 S.E.2d 458 (1971), this Court held that it was error for a prosecutor to characterize the defendant as "lower than the bone belly of a cur dog."......
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State Carolina v. Waring
...the argument before the jury, he violates the rules of fair debate....' " Id. at 130, 558 S.E.2d at 105 (quoting State v. Smith, 279 N.C. 163, 166, 181 S.E.2d 458, 460 (1971)). However, "it is not improper for the prosecutor to impeach the credibility of an expert during his closing argumen......