Ward v. State, F-79-615
| Decision Date | 03 September 1981 |
| Docket Number | No. F-79-615,F-79-615 |
| Citation | 633 P.2d 757 |
| Parties | Kelley Spencer WARD, Appellant, v. The STATE of Oklahoma, Appellee. |
| Court | United States State Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma. Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma |
The appellant was convicted of Carrying a Firearm into an Establishment Where Beer is Consumed in the District Court of Tulsa County Case No. CRF-78-2863. A punishment of eighteen (18) months imprisonment and a one thousand ($1,000.00) dollar fine was imposed. The appellant represented himself at trial.
The single issue which is dispositive of this appeal involves the propriety of the arguments made by the Tulsa County prosecutor during his closing argument. Any facts necessary for a full understanding of our holding will be set out during the course of the opinion.
This Court tolerates and in fact encourages a reasonable exercise of freedom of speech and a wide range of argumentation during closing argument. See Green v. State, 611 P.2d 262 (Okl.Cr.1980); Carmichael v. State, 44 Okl.Cr. 160, 279 P. 515 (1928). The freedom of speech and the range of argumentation contemplated, however, extend only to the evidence presented at trial and to reasonable inferences drawn therefrom. See Bryant v. State, 585 P.2d 377 (Okl.Cr.1978); Hathcox v. State, 94 Okl.Cr. 110, 230 P.2d 927 (1951). Arguments beyond the scope of the evidence can only be intended to arouse the passions and prejudices of the jurors and are improper. See Polk v. State, 561 P.2d 558 (Okl.Cr.1977). Whether such improper arguments require reversal, however, is a question for which there is no general answer. As stated in Kennamer v. State, 59 Okl.Cr. 146, 186, 57 P.2d 646, 664 (1936):
It is impossible upon such a subject to formulate a general rule infallibly applicable in all cases. Each case is tested by itself in a measure.
With the above framework in mind, we have examined the closing arguments made by the Tulsa County Prosecutor in the present case. The prosecutor's closing argument covers approximately seven pages in the trial transcript. Of those seven pages, five have been devoted to the prosecutor's attempt to prejudice the rights of the appellant. Portions of the prosecutor's arguments are set out below.
MR. TRUSTER: Again, I can't think of any other trial in which I have been a participant in which such outrageous comments were made or such disrespect shown to the court in this judicial system.
But it's to the credit, I guess, of this great country and this great state that we allow us to be demeaned so that the rights of minorities are protected, the rights of the Kelly Spencer Wards, Sirhan Sirhans, James Earl Rays, any individual who is eccentric or kooky enough to commit any type of offense who can have his day in court. This trial, at one point, reminded me of the celebrated case in Chicago of the Chicago Seven. I'm thankful that this afternoon's proceedings did not take on quite that tenor of that particular trial, but, again, you can observe the demeanor of the witness, and he was a witness, and his credibility in considering who you believe.
His guilt is obvious. The question in this case is whether or not one or more of you will feel so much sympathy for Kelly Spencer Ward that you will accept anything less than the maximum penalty. It grieves me in this particular case to have to tell you, and the Court to tell you, that you, as a jury of 12 reasonable people, can only consider a maximum penalty of two years, that and a $1,000 fine, which, parenthetically, I will ask you for in this instance. Why do I say that? Because in the wisdom of the legislature they recognized certain situations in which homicides, or serious crimes occur in a bar room where weapons are used, much like State's Exhibit Number One, which Mr. Ward purchased, under his own testimony. They recognized that, but yet I fear that in cases like Kelly Spencer Ward's they neglected to make the punishment stiff enough and I ask you to reflect on all of your human resources when you evaluate and assess his penalty as to how much time he will serve on this charge when convicted because if anyone is thinking of a fine, a slap on the wrist, in my opinion, based on the evidence that you heard in this case, the demeanor of that man before this jury, his outrageous allegations, to assess anything less than the maximum would be a...
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Banks v. State, F-81-179
...jury panel. This Court does not approve of argument or comment so intended. Tobler v. State, 688 P.2d 350 (Okl.Cr.1984); Ward v. State, 633 P.2d 757 (Okl.Cr.1981). Defense objections should have been sustained and the jury admonished to disregard such comments. Still we are unable to say th......
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Rojem v. State, F-85-485
...this Court cannot tolerate arguments calculated solely to inflame the passions and prejudices of the jury. See Ward v. State, 633 P.2d 757, 760 (Okla.Crim.App.1981); ABA Standards, supra, § Based on the foregoing, I am compelled to agree with Judge Bussey's assessment under similar circumst......
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Andrew v. State
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