INACCURATE ANNOTATIONS ON TRIAL EXHIBITS DISPLAYED BY THE PROSECUTOR IN A POWERPOINT PRESENTATION DURING SUMMATION DID NOT DEPRIVE THE DEFENDANT OF A FAIR TRIAL, THE TRIAL JUDGE TOOK APPROPRIATE STEPS TO ADDRESS THE PROBLEM.
The Court of Appeals, in a full-fledged opinion by Judge DiFiore, determined the inaccurate labeling of trial exhibits (photographs) in a PowerPoint presentation by the prosecutor during summation did not deprive the defendant of a fair trial. One photo, for example, was annotated with text indicating the photo depicted the defendant, but the witness who testified about the photo could not definitively say it was the defendant. The trial judge recognized the problem, stopped the PowerPoint presentation, and instructed the jury to disregard the slides:
There is no inherent problem with the use of a PowerPoint presentation as a visual aid in connection with closing arguments. Indeed, it can be an effective tool. But, the long-standing rules governing the bounds of proper conduct in summation apply equally to a PowerPoint presentation. In other words, if it would be improper to make a particular statement, it would likewise be improper to display it … . If counsel is going to superimpose commentary to images of trial exhibits, the annotations must, without question, accurately represent the trial evidence … . Moreover, any type of blatant appeal to the jury’s emotions or egregious proclamation of a defendant’s guilt would plainly be unacceptable … .
Here, defendant argues that he was deprived of a fair trial by the annotation of images of the trial exhibits to imply that the victim’s brother, in his testimony, had positively identified either his truck or defendant from the surveillance video because this misrepresented the witness’s testimony. Significantly, the trial court was very attuned to the annotated slides and, in the exercise of its discretion, ultimately stopped the slideshow and instructed the jury to disregard the slides … . To the extent any slides may have misrepresented the trial evidence, the trial court instructed the jury on more than one occasion that the attorneys’ arguments were not evidence and that the jury was the sole judge of the facts. Defense counsel also rejected the court’s offer of any less drastic relief after the denial of the mistrial motion. Thus, under these circumstances, defendant was not deprived of a fair trial. People v Williams, 2017 NY Slip Op 02588, CtApp 4-4-17
CRIMINAL LAW (INACCURATE ANNOTATIONS ON TRIAL EXHIBITS DISPLAYED BY THE PROSECUTOR IN A POWERPOINT PRESENTATION DURING SUMMATION DID NOT DEPRIVE THE DEFENDANT OF A FAIR TRIAL, THE TRIAL JUDGE TOOK APPROPRIATE STEPS TO ADDRESS THE PROBLEM)/ATTORNEYS (CRIMINAL LAW, INACCURATE ANNOTATIONS ON TRIAL EXHIBITS DISPLAYED BY THE PROSECUTOR IN A POWERPOINT PRESENTATION DURING SUMMATION DID NOT DEPRIVE THE DEFENDANT OF A FAIR TRIAL, THE TRIAL JUDGE TOOK APPROPRIATE STEPS TO ADDRESS THE PROBLEM)/PROSECUTORIAL MISCONDUCT (INACCURATE ANNOTATIONS ON TRIAL EXHIBITS DISPLAYED BY THE PROSECUTOR IN A POWERPOINT PRESENTATION DURING SUMMATION DID NOT DEPRIVE THE DEFENDANT OF A FAIR TRIAL, THE TRIAL JUDGE TOOK APPROPRIATE STEPS TO ADDRESS THE PROBLEM)/POWERPOINT (CRIMINAL LAW, SUMMATION, INACCURATE ANNOTATIONS ON TRIAL EXHIBITS DISPLAYED BY THE PROSECUTOR IN A POWERPOINT PRESENTATION DURING SUMMATION DID NOT DEPRIVE THE DEFENDANT OF A FAIR TRIAL, THE TRIAL JUDGE TOOK APPROPRIATE STEPS TO ADDRESS THE PROBLEM)