People v. Eckdahl
People v. Eckdahl
Opinion of the Court
By information defendants Eckdahl, Delicti and Brown were charged with the crimes of assault with a deadly weapon with intent to commit murder, and robbery. Trial before a court sitting with a jury resulted in verdicts of guilty as to both counts against Eckdahl and Dellett. Brown was found guilty of robbery. Eckdahl appeals from the judgment and from the court’s order denying his motion for a new trial. The assignments of error relate solely to alleged misconduct of the district attorney in argument. No contention is made that the evidence did not substantially support both convictions.
Appellant assigns as prejudicial misconduct the following portion of the deputy district attorney’s argument to the jury: ‘1 There are three real tough guys. I just wonder how tough they are when they get the odds up against them. When the odds were even, they weren’t tough at all, they threw their guns down like a bunch of rats. It always gets me, when I think of one thing, I think of a bunch of decent guys over in a place like Korea, and when there is guys like this running around-” Likewise prejudice is claimed from the following statement in the closing argument for the People: “The evidence in this case, Ladies and Gentlemen, as I said once before, is so overwhelming that it is incredible to believe these defendants would enter a plea of not guilty.” When the first quoted statement was made appellant’s counsel objected that the comment was improper, “out of place and outside the evidence.” The trial court promptly admonished the jury to disregard the statement and to be guided by the evidence and the law as given by the court. When the second quoted statement was made appellant’s counsel again objected and asked the court to admonish the jury, with which request the court complied.
It is unnecessary for us to pass upon the strict propriety
The judgment and the order appealed from are affirmed.
Peek, J., and Schottky, J., concurred.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.