Can a prosecutor call attention to the defense's failure to put on exculpatory evidence?
California, United States of America
The following excerpt is from The People v. Navarrete, H034523, Super. Ct. No. SS081056A (Cal. App. 2011):
"A prosecutor may call attention to the defense's failure to put on exculpatory evidence, but only if those comments are not aimed at the defendant's failure to testify and are not of such a character that the jury would naturally and necessarily interpret them to be a comment on the failure to testify." (People v. Guzman (2000) 80 Cal.App.4th 1282, 1289.)
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