Williford v. State

2 Citing cases

  1. Cargill v. State

    255 Ga. 616 (Ga. 1986)   Cited 153 times
    Holding that neither the Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution nor the Georgia Constitution affords a criminal defendant the hybrid right to simultaneously represent himself and to be represented by counsel

    The prosecutor's reference to the victim's family circumstances constituted fair comment on the evidence. Cf. Williford v. State, 142 Ga. App. 162 (1) ( 235 S.E.2d 625) (1977). See generally 50 ALR3d 8, Propriety and Prejudicial Effect of Prosecutor's Remarks as to Victim's Age, Family Circumstances, or the Like (1973).

  2. State v. Todd

    2007 UT App. 349 (Utah Ct. App. 2007)   Cited 21 times
    In State v. Todd, 2007 UT App 349, 173 P.3d 170, a murder case, the prosecutor "made several impassioned references" to what the victim "might have told the jury had she been alive to testify."

    See Cherry, 378 A.2d at 804. Courts also discourage references to a deceased victim. See, e.g., Williford v. State, 142 Ga.App. 162, 235 S.E.2d 625, 626 (1977) (concluding that prosecutor's references to the victim as a married man who would never get to see his newborn child were improper). Of direct relevance to this case, it has been held that reference during closing argument to how a victim would have testified had he or she been alive to testify constitutes prosecutorial misconduct because it unfairly appeals to the sympathies of the jury. See Commonwealth v. Lipscomb, 455 Pa. 525, 317 A.2d 205, 206-07 (1974).