Eleventh Circuit Finds Prosecutor Committed Plain Error by Saying in Closing Argument That the Defendant Was No Longer Presumed Innocent
A fundamental protection of the American justice is that a criminal defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. And this protection was at the heart of the recent opinion of the Eleventh Circuit in United States v. Martinez, 2025 WL 2942795 (11th Cir. 2025).
In Martinez, the defendant was charged with eight counts of smuggling goods into the United States, three counts of smuggling goods from the United States, and obstruction of justice. In his opening remark in his closing argument, the prosecutor told the jury the following:
Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, the Defendant is no longer presumed innocent. The Defendant stands before you guilty as charged in the superseding indictment. Guilty of smuggling sculptures containing ivory outside of the United States, guilty of selling sculptures intended for export outside of the United States, and guilty of obstructing justice.
In finding that this was plain error (albeit not requiring reversal), the Eleventh Circuit held that
The government’s statement that Mr. Martinez was “no longer presumed innocent” was improper and constituted error that was plain under our precedent. That statement misstated the law, i.e., the principle that a defendant is presumed innocent until the jury returns a verdict of guilty….The Eighth and Tenth Circuits have held that similar statements are improper, and we agree with them.