Section 22.5 What the Prosecutor’s Opening Statement Can Include

• Library: Criminal Practice 2012 Supp

IV. (§22.5) What the Prosecutor’s Opening Statement Can Include

The prosecutor’s opening statement can include evidence that the state intends to introduce, including evidence that is arguably admissible but may later be excluded, if made in good faith. State v. Debler, 856 S.W.2d 641 (Mo. banc 1993); State v. Rios, 840 S.W.2d 284 (Mo. App. W.D. 1992); State v. Lane, 791 S.W.2d 947 (Mo. App. S.D. 1990). For example, the prosecutor may:

1. Refer to the commission of another crime when:

a. the other crime and the one on trial are so intermingled as to be inseparable in the evidence, State v. Aubuchon, 394 S.W.2d 327 (Mo. 1965); State v. Foster, 557 S.W.2d 651 (Mo. App. W.D. 1977);

b. the evidence of the other crime shows the joint enterprise of this defendant with others, Kraus v. United States,
87 F.2d 656 (8^th Cir. 1937);

c. the other crime tends to establish the identity of the defendant, State v. McKeever, 101 S.W.2d 22 (Mo. 1936);

d. the reference to the other crime (illicit relationship with the victim) tends to show the motive for the crime on trial (homicide), State v. Knight, 206 S.W.2d 330 (Mo. 1947); State v. Kurtz, 564 S.W.2d 856 (Mo. banc 1978); or

e. the other crime shows motive, intent, absence of mistake or accident, common plan, or identity, State v. Fox, 510 S.W.2d 832 (Mo. App. E.D. 1974).

2. Call the defendant a bum if the facts of the case show that the defendant is, in fact, an indigent transient. State v. Gartrell, 71 S.W. 1045 (Mo. 1903).

3. State...