Commonwealth v. Parker

¶ 1 Maurice Parker (Appellant) appeals from the April 29, 2004 judgment of sentence imposed upon him following his conviction for attempted murder, aggravated assault, violations of the Uniform Firearms Act, and possessing an instrument of crime. The sole issue on appeal is whether the trial court abused its discretion in permitting, over a defense objection, the prosecutor to display a handgun in his opening statement.1 We conclude that although the trial court abused its discretion, the resulting error was harmless. We do, however, caution against the use of such tactics by prosecutors in…