Commonwealth v. Wiggins

Dissenting Opinion by

Spaeth, J.:

I believe that the district attorney’s characterization of appellant as a “dangerous man” in closing argument was sufficiently prejudicial (and unprofessional) to warrant the granting of a new trial.

The limits of permissible argument by a prosecutor to a jury are set forth in ABA Standards, The Prosecution Function §5.8 at 126:

“(a) The prosecutor may argue all reasonable inferences from evidence in the record. It is unprofessional conduct for the prosecutor intentionally to misstate the evidence or mislead the jury as to the inferences it may draw.

“(b) It is…