State v. Brannson

I am reluctant to assign error in the conduct of a trial where the defendant can ascribe no error that the trial court refused relief, because none was requested. Nevertheless, in my opinion, the incidents described by the majority caused manifest injustice to the accused in this case and warrant plain error relief for reasons taken from the opinion of the Honorable Charles Shangler in the court of appeals.

An attorney in the case may not comment on the failure of an accused to testify in the trial under the constitutional principle that such a comment violates the guarantee to an accused to…