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Johnson v. Amethyst Corp.11/7/1995
statements, but his objections were overruled. We find these statements made during counsel's closing argument to be highly inflammatory, prejudicial, and not supported by the evidence.
First, counsel makes reference to the sexual harassment allegations made by Professor Anita Hill against then United States Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas by implying that Anita Hill had an ulterior motive in making her allegations. Whether she did or did not had no relevancy to the case at hand. The clear import of counsel's argument was to appeal to the passion and prejudice of the jurors that stem from that unrelated sexual harassment matter. We expressly reject the use of this type of inflammatory comparison which seeks only to incorporate and transfer the jurors' feelings from an unrelated matter to the case at hand. It is, in our opinion, prejudicially infirm to the sense of fairness and Justice in our legal system.
Second, counsel's statement that the plea arrangement was "orchestrated by the attorneys for the four women who were making the charges," and that the women "had attorneys for the purpose of bringing legal claims within two days after they came forward with allegations," was unsupported by the evidence in the record. The record establishes only that after the women alleged that they were sexually molested, the four female patients at Amethyst Hospital talked with an attorney.
Finally and most egregious are counsel's disparaging statements that because District Court Judge Jane Harper is a female Judge, she would not have accepted a plea bargain giving Bartolotta "no active time if there was believable evidence that any of the [allegations] were true." This argument is not only insulting to the judicial system as a whole, it further calls into question the fairness of female Judges who preside over trials involving sexual misconduct. It is no more than a blatant attack on the integrity of Judges who may share diverse qualities with a particular litigant. This court will neither condone nor permit practicing attorneys to take leave of their responsibilities to uphold the respectability of the judicial system. Finding counsel's argument to have been shockingly inappropriate, we conclude that plaintiff is entitled to a new trial free of these prejudicial statements by counsel in the closing argument.
V.
The plaintiff's last contention is that the trial court erred in allowing the introduction of evidence of plaintiff's prior use of illegal drugs. She argues that such information was highly prejudicial to her and defendants proffered no permissible use of such information under N.C. Gen. Stat. ยง 8C-1, Rules 404 and 608(b)(1993). We agree.
The North Carolina Rules of Evidence forbid the use of specific instances of conduct for the purposes of proving the credibility of a witness or lack thereof. N.C.R. Evid. 608(b). Prior drug use is included among the types of conduct affected by this rule. See State v. Clark, 324 N.C. 146, 162, 377 S.E.2d 54, 64 (1989); State v. Rowland, 89 N.C. App. 372, 382, 366 S.E.2d 550, 555 (1988), rev. dismissed, 323 N.C. 619, 374 S.E.2d 116 (1988). Additionally, Rule 404(b) provides:
Evidence of other crimes, wrongs, or acts is not admissible to prove the character of a person in order to show that he acted in conformity therewith. It may, however, be admissible for other purposes, such as proof of motive, opportunity, intent, preparation, plan, knowledge, identity, or absence of mistake, entrapment or accident.
N.C.R. Evid. 404.
The defendants argue that the purpose for which defendant intended the testimony concerning plaintiff's drug use twenty years prior to the ca
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