United States v. Danny Barra Gorostiza

468 F.2d 915, 1972 U.S. App. LEXIS 6882

• Court: Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
• Decided: November 3, 1972
• Docket: 72-2103
• Status: Published

Opinion

PER CURIAM:

Gorostiza was convicted of having unlawfully imported marijuana from Mexico into the United States. 21 U.S.C. § 952(a). In urging reversal, he advances two contentions. The first relates to the District Court’s alleged error in refusing a’ jury instruction tendered by Gorostiza. The contention has no merit whatsoever. Nor does Gorosti za’s second argument, urging that the District Court should have sustained his objection to a portion of the argument made by the prosecutor in closing summátion. The thrust of the prosecution’s argument was that the defense had taken a “Perry Mason”-like approach. In closing arguments, both defense attorneys and prosecution attorneys are allowed reasonably wide latitude. They may strike “hard blows,” based upon the testimony and its inferences, although they may not, of course, employ argument which could fairly be characterized as foul or unfair. In this case, we do not believe that the prosecutor exceeded his legitimate bounds.

The judgment of conviction is affirmed.