Now the State, just like the defense, would also like to implore you not to convict an innocent person. That would be horrible. Don't convict an innocent person. Instead, convict her because she killed Mike Sisco,
she killed Karen Harkness, and she robbed her own children of their father and his fiancee. (R. XXVII, 115-16.) (emphasis added). Again, Chandler fails to articulate how these comments are improper appeals for sympathy and how they amount to error. This claim too should be deemed waived and abandoned as it is not adequately briefed. See
State v. Bowen, 299 Kan. 339, 355, 323
P.3d 853 (2014). The comment Chandler complains of in closing argument comes immediately after a lengthy and proper argument by the prosecutor explaining the evidence that was presented and how that evidence supports a finding of guilt. The prosecutor summarized all of the different accounts Chandler told people regarding her whereabouts on the weekend of the murder. (R. XXVII, 113-15.) When taken in context and in looking at the closing argument as a whole, the prosecutor's closing argument was not an appeal for sympathy. See
State v. Chanthaseng, 293 Kan. 140, 148, 261 P.3d
889 (2011). The prosecutor was not attempting to distract the jury from deciding the case based on the evidence presented. Moreover, the relationship of the victims was important evidence to help establish Chandler's motive. Chandler never recovered from the divorce, stalked Sisco . and Harkness, and constantly disrupted their relationship. She still wanted reconciliation. Chandler was jealous of Sisco and Harkness's happiness and successful relationship. The evidence of their loving relationship and the fact that they were to be married fueled Chandler's rage and motive for the murders. The evidence regarding Sisco and Harkness's loving relationship was not presented for the purpose of inflaming the passions of the jury or to invoke sympathy, rather it was to show Chandler's motive for murder. The prosecutor properly commented on evidence presented at trial
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