State v. Copley

I respectfully dissent. I would hold the trial court did not abuse its discretion in overruling defendant's objection to the portion of the State's closing argument that defendant argues, and the majority agrees, violated defendant's constitutional rights by allowing the State to argue the victim would not have been shot if he had been white. During closing argument, the State argued:

[THE STATE]: And while we're at it ... I have at every turn attempted to not make this what this case is about. And at every turn, jury selection, arguments, evidence, closing argument, there's been this…