United States v. Currie

A jury found Clifford Currie guilty of assault with intent to commit murder. Currie splashed gasoline on his supervisor, lit her on fire, attempted to stand on her neck, and attacked her with a straight razor and scissors. Currie worked as a social services assistant at the Munson Army Health Center (“Munson”) at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. Lieutenant Katie Ann Blanchard, a registered nurse with the army, supervised him. "Currie and Lt. Blanchard had a difficult working relationship." The relationship was strained one day in September 2016 when, after informing him requests for overtime pay would be denied, Currie stepped inside Lt. Blanchard's office, threw gasoline on her and then a lit match. Currie then attempted to stab Lt. Blanchard with a straight razor and scissors. On appeal, he argued prosecutorial misconduct during closing arguments denied him a fair trial. His motion challenged nine of the prosecutor’s statements during closing argument and rebuttal. On appeal, Currie grouped the statements into three categories, arguing the prosecutor: (1) misstated the burden of proof for assault with intent to commit murder; (2) misstated the heat of passion defense; and (3) improperly warned the jury about legitimizing violence. After a review of the trial court record, the Tenth Circuit found that even if the jury saw a conflict in the prosecutor’s heat of passion explanations, the prosecutor made clear the judge’s instructions would govern. The prosecutor’s improper statements during closing argument did not render Currie’s trial fundamentally unfair and did not affect the jury’s verdict. The Court found the rest of her comments were not improper. View "United States v. Currie" on Justia Law