Johnson v. State

Jordan, Presiding Judge.

The defendant appeals a conviction and sentence for burglary. Held:

1. The use of the word "fired” by the prosecutor in his opening statement affords no basis for the grant of a mistrial on the ground that the prosecutor deliberately put the accused’s character in evidence. In the colloquial sense as here used it merely discloses that the victim, and not the accused, had terminated the accused’s employment a short time before the alleged offense was committed. The mere statement that a person has been fired "is not defamatory as a matter of law. The right to hire…