California, United States of America
The following excerpt is from People v. Glaude, F076021 (Cal. App. 2019):
Here, even if we were to assume the prosecutor's comment constituted misconduct and defense counsel erred in failing to object, we conclude any alleged error was harmless. (See People v. Nguyen (1995) 40 Cal.App.4th 28, 36-37 [prosecutor's
Page 38
argument suggesting reasonable doubt standard is used in daily life when considering whether to change lanes trivialized standard but was harmless where prosecutor directed jury to instruction on reasonable doubt and jury was properly instructed].) The parties do not dispute the jury was correctly instructed on the reasonable doubt standard. It was also instructed, "If you believe that the attorneys' comments on the law conflict with [the jury] instructions, you must follow [the jury] instructions." We presume the jury followed the jury instructions. (People v. Dalton, supra, 7 Cal.5th at pp. 260-261 [any alleged prosecutorial misconduct was not prejudicial where jury was properly instructed on reasonable doubt standard; "We presume that jurors treat the court's instructions as a statement of the law by a judge, and the prosecutor's comments as words spoken by an advocate in an attempt to persuade"].) And both defense counsel and the prosecutor in rebuttal directed the jury to follow the law as it was given to them by the judge and discussed the reasonable doubt standard further. Thus, the prosecutor's example was not the last word the jury heard on the subject of reasonable doubt.
The above passage should not be considered legal advice. Reliable answers to complex legal questions require comprehensive research memos. To learn more visit www.alexi.com.