State v. Francis

OPINION

DROWOTA, Justice.

In this appeal from a conviction of sexual battery, defendant contends, inter alia, that the State’s use of the missing witness inference during closing argument was prejudicial error. We granted defendant’s Rule 11 application for permission to appeal in order to determine whether the State’s comment on the failure of the defendant to call his six-year-old daughter as a witness was a proper subject matter of argument. We hold that the trial court erred in allowing the State to make this argument before the jury. We reverse the conviction and remand the case for a new…