In
United States v. Acosta, (6th Cir., May 15, 2019), the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals granted a new trial to two defendants who had been convicted of drug violations. The vacating of defendants' convictions stemmed in large part from the prosecutor's comments at trial regarding the religious practices of one of the defendants. The prosecutor questioned the defendant about a shrine to
Jesus Malverde found in his home. Malverde is a folk saint of drug traffickers. Then, in closing, the prosecutor said to the jury:
Another shocking thing yesterday was the defendant, Mr. Morales’ [sic] testimony. Thou shall not have any Gods before me. I’ve never ever seen a defendant admit to worshiping Malverde. I’m not going to call it a saint, I’m going to use the word and call it a deity. He worships a deity . . . . He prayed for protection from police. He prays that he doesn’t get caught.
... I wonder how many prayers he has said to Malverde before he walked into the courtroom yesterday. I wonder if what’s going through his mind this morning was, I’m going to say another prayer for protection from the jurors of Central Kentucky....
Luis Morales [sic], the worshiper of a deity of a drug trafficking entity who prays for protection from police, prosecutors, court systems and juries. Is he entitled to any credibility for what he said? No, not at all.
Louisville Courier-Journal reports on the decision.
