Criminal Practice – Constitutional – Due Process – Prosecutor’s Closing – Not Guilty Plea – No Prejudice

During closing arguments, it was improper for a prosecutor to raise the issue of defendant’s decision to plead not guilty. However, given (1) the fact that this was only a small part of the prosecutor’s argument, (2) the evidence against defendant (eyewitness testimony that he shot first at a police officer, defendant’s bullets were “cop killers”, and testimony that defendant had said he’d rather kill himself or have police kill him than return to prison), (3) the trial court’s jury instructions (defendant’s decision to plead not guilty could not be taken as evidence of his guilt, he was presumed innocent, and the state was required to prove defendant’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt), and (4) indications that the jury properly followed the judge’s instructions (the jury asked to re-watch the slow-motion surveillance video of the shooting, so the jury appears to have based its decision on the evidence rather than on passion or prejudice resulting from the prosecutor’s improper argument), defendant has not shown that he was prejudiced by the prosecutor’s improper argument. We cannot say that there is a reasonable possibility that, without the state’s improper closing argument, the jury would have reached a different verdict.

We reverse the Court of Appeals’ decision (which vacated the judgments against defendant and remanded for a new trial), and we remand to the Court of Appeals for consideration of the other arguments that defendant raised on appeal.

State v. Goins (Lawyers Weekly No. 010-056-21, 10 pp.) (Robin Hudson, J.) Appealed from the Superior Court in Cabarrus County (Christopher Bragg, J.) On appeal from the Court of Appeals. Ryan Park and Nicholas Brod for the state; Joseph Lattimore for defendant. 2021-NCSC-65