It's not nice to call people names, not even if they're shotgun-wielding murderer Jeremy Banks, who killed Alvon Turner on the porch of a drug house in Kansas City:
Guilt of ‘devil’ upheld
A split appeals court panel Tuesday upheld a Kansas City man’s murder conviction.
The issue was whether a prosecutor prejudiced the jury by calling Jeremy Banks the devil.
Two key witnesses worked at the house and had smoked crack cocaine and drunk shots of whisky before the 2002 killing. In closing arguments at trial, the defense lawyer attacked their credibility.
Assistant prosecutor Dawn Parsons countered that jurors should not expect high morals from drug-house witnesses.
“This is hell,” she said. “(Banks) is the devil. They aren’t angels.”
Banks is serving life without parole.
