“Pabst's credibility was crucial to the case. The prosecutor placed before the jury unsworn testimony which it should not have considered: his personal opinion on Pabst's credibility and the credibility of the State's evidence. Stating facts not in evidence is clearly improper. [Citation omitted.] Accusing Pabst of lying goes far beyond the traditional wide latitude afforded to prosecutors in closing argument. [Citation omitted.] Inherent in this wide latitude is the freedom to craft an argument that includes reasonable inferences based on the evidence. When a case develops that turns on which of two conflicting stories is true, it may be reasonable to argue, based on evidence, that certain testimony is not believable. However, the ultimate conclusion as to any witness' veracity rests solely with the jury.”
*247 “And Tom and Denise are the only ones that really have a motive to fabricate any lies in this case. He's not going to-he might admit to you that he uses drugs, that he used them, that he hangs out with people, but he's not going to admit that he made meth on this day because that would **731 be admitting to felony murder. And Tom and Denise had plenty of time to get their stories straight, to conjure up what they were going to tell you all.”
“And I'm sorry, but I just can't buy this story that Tom and Denise come up with that Tom was somewhat of a hero risking his life to go in and save these people in the house. It seems to me there was no remorse for LaDonna's injuries or her death. Only emotion that we saw from him or Denise came when they were testifying about his own injuries. Doesn't seem like a martyr to me.”
*248 “Why wouldn't he just say somebody else did it? Why wouldn't he blame Shawn? Why wouldn't he blame Lonnie Pugh? Why wouldn't he say Mike Quinn and him were doing it? Why would he point to Tom? There's no ax for him to grind against Tom Finley. He says it was Tom because it's true. He and Tom were up there making the meth. And all the physical evidence and the testimony of the witnesses corroborates George LaMae's story, his version of it, not Tom Finley's.”
**732 “I would submit to you that a reasonable doubt is really nothing more than a fair doubt that's based on reason and common sense and arises from the status of the evidence. It's impossible for me to prove everything to you by an absolute certainty. At the same time, a defendant should not be convicted just on speculation and conjecture, but you have much more than that in this case. You don't just have speculation or conjecture that Tom Finley is guilty. All the evidence, all the inferences to be drawn from that evidence point to only one verdict in this case, and that is that Tom Finley is guilty. Thank you.”
“A reasonable doubt is a fair doubt based on reason and common sense and arising from the state of the evidence. It is rarely possible to prove anything to an absolute certainty, but at the same time, a defendant is not to be convicted on mere suspicion or conjecture. You are instructed that a reasonable doubt is a doubt that would make a reasonable person hesitate to act in the graver and more important transactions of life.”
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