If a prosecutor makes an assertion that defense counsel sought to deceive the jury, would misconduct be established?

If there is a reasonable likelihood that the jury would understand the prosecutor's statements as an assertion that defense counsel sought to deceive the jury, misconduct would be established. (People v. Clair (1992) 2 Cal.4th 629, 663, 7 Cal.Rptr.2d 564, 828 P.2d 705.) It is possible that, taken alone, the prosecutor's argument might have been so understood. However, any implication in the argument that defense counsel engaged in deception was removed by the trial court's admonition, after a defense objection was sustained, that the court was certain that counsel were not trying to impugn the integrity of any parties to the proceedings. Although the prosecutor again accused the defense of attempting to hide the truth, and used his "ink from the octopus" metaphor several times during closing argument, the context was such that the jury certainly would understand it to be nothing more than urging the jury not to be misled by defense evidence. ⁴⁷ Indeed, Cummings

Page 841