BENFILS GEORGE, ETC., APPELLANT,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE
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Conviction reversed due to prosecutorial misconduct during closing argument, including expressing personal confidence in witness credibility, attacking defendant's truthfulness based on national origin, commenting on failure to produce witnesses, and making insinuations about prior drug involvement.
Prosecutorial misconduct during closing argument—including vouching for witness credibility, attacking defendant's character based on national origin, commenting on missing witnesses, and implying prior criminal activity—requires reversal even when trial court issues cautionary instructions.
[1] Prosecutorial vouching for witness credibility, attacks on defendant's character based on national origin, comments on failure to produce witnesses, and insinuations of p…
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceGeorge, a defendant from Haiti, was tried before a jury. During closing argument, the prosecutor engaged in multiple improper statements regarding wit…
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COWART, Judge.
During closing argument in the jury trial in this case, the prosecutor (1) expressed his personal confidence in the veracity of a State’s witness; (2) told the jury, in effect, that the testimony of the defendant should not be believed because the defendant was from Haiti where if you told the authorities the truth, you were dead; (3) commented on the failure of the defendant to produce a witness and (4) made a remark susceptible of being understood to mean that the defendant was involved in some prior drug deal.
The trial judge’s efforts to use cautionary instructions to ameliorate these prosecutorial improprieties, while commendable, cannot be held to have eliminated their harmful effect under the circumstances of this case.1 Therefore the defendant’s conviction is reversed and this case is remanded for a new fair trial.
REVERSED and REMANDED.
ORFINGER and COBB, JJ., concur. . See Robinson v. State, 520 So. 2d 1 (Fla.1988); DiGuilio v. State, 491 So. 2d 1129 (Fla.1986); Michaels v. State, 429 So. 2d 338 (Fla. 2d DCA 1983), approved in part, 454 So. 2d 560 (Fla.1984); Araujo v. State, 452 So. 2d 54 (Fla. 3d DCA 1984); Porter v. State, 347 So. 2d 449 (Fla. 3d DCA 1977); Trinca v. State, 446 So. 2d 719 (Fla. 4th DCA 1984); Jones v. State, 449 So. 2d 313 (Fla. 5th DCA 1984), rev. denied, 456 So. 2d 1182 (Fla.1984).
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Citator
Cited By
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Terrazas v. State, 696 So. 2d 1309 (Fla. 2d DCA 1997)…nal conduct to a defendant based on racial or ethnic background have been uniformly condemned by the courts of this state. See Perez v. State, 689 So. 2d 306 (Fla. 3d DCA 1997); Reynolds v. State, 580 So. 2d 254 (Fla. 1st DCA 1991); George v. State, 539 So. 2d 21 (Fla. 5th DCA 1989); Salazar-Rodriguez v. State, 436 So. 2d 269 (Fla. 3d DCA 1983). These tactics have been found to be fundamental error and reversal has occurred when there has been a failure to object and move for mistrial. See Perez; Reynolds. W…
Authorities Cited
- State v. DiGUILIO, 491 So. 2d 1129 (Fla. 1986)
- Robinson v. State, 520 So. 2d 1 (Fla. 1988)
- State v. Michaels, 454 So. 2d 560 (Fla. 1984)
- Jones v. State, 449 So. 2d 313 (Fla. 5th DCA 1984)
- Porter v. State, 347 So. 2d 449 (Fla. 3d DCA 1977)
- Michaels v. State, 429 So. 2d 338 (Fla. 2d DCA 1983)
- del Risco v. JEM Constr. Corp., 452 So. 2d 54 (Fla. 3d DCA 1984)
- Trinca v. State, 446 So. 2d 719 (Fla. 4th DCA 1984)