Byce v. State

1 Citing case

  1. Thomas v. State

    766 So. 2d 860 (Ala. Crim. App. 1998)   Cited 86 times
    Holding that Thomas's Eighth Amendment claim was procedurally barred under state procedural rules and that as a matter of federal constitutional law, Thomas's Eighth Amendment claim was without merit

    If so, the conduct should be held improper.'" McNair v. State, 653 So.2d at 334-35 (quoting D. Overby, Improper Prosecutorial Argument in Capital Cases, 58 UMKC L.Rev. 651, 670 (1990)). The extent and the nature of the sexual abuse inflicted on the victim was so overwhelming and atrocious that the fact that Thomas may not have, in the strictest legal sense, committed "rape" is virtually insignificant. Surely, with the evidence before the jury, the prosecutor's characterization was not designed to, and indeed did not, induce a decision not based on a rational assessment of the evidence. (In regard to the prosecutor's comment that "[e]very home in this county was raped and robbed," see Byce v. State, 352 So.2d 1160, 1161 (Ala.Cr.App. 1977) (in robbery prosecution, the prosecutor's argument to the jury that "you are all victims in this case" was not improper; rather, it was "nothing more than an appeal for law enforcement and an assertion of trespass on the rights of society which is the ultimate and general victim")).