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Cal: Admonition cured any error in opening statement comment about refusing to consent

By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

Court’s [mild and virtually meaningless] admonition to jury in a death penalty case to disregard prosecutor’s opening statement comment that defendant refused to consent to a search that opening statements are not evidence was sufficient to cure any error. People v. Tate, 2010 Cal. LEXIS 6548 (July 8, 2010)*: Assuming, as defendant contends, that the prosecutor committed misconduct by commenting on defendant’s exercise of his Fourth Amendment right to refuse consent to a search and by arguing evidence that would be inadmissible at trial, the court’s response was sufficient to resolve the problem. The court immediately “asked” – i.e., politely admonished – the jury to disregard the argument, and later instructed the jury that “[s]tatements made by attorneys during the trial are not evidence...continue to full post

Full post as published by Fourth Amendment on July 09, 2010 (boomark / email).