What constitutes misconduct under the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution when it infects the trial with such unfairness as to make the conviction a denial of due process?

California, United States of America


The following excerpt is from People v. Devoy, C080547 (Cal. App. 2018):

A prosecutor's conduct violates the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution when it infects the trial with such unfairness as to make the conviction a denial of due process. (People v. Morales (2001) 25 Cal.4th 34, 44.) A prosecutor's conduct that does not render the trial fundamentally unfair is misconduct under state law only if it involves the use of deceptive or reprehensible methods to attempt to persuade the court or the jury. (Ibid.) When the claim focuses upon a prosecutor's comments to the jury, the question is whether there is a reasonable likelihood that the jury construed or applied the remarks in an objectionable fashion. (Ibid.)

A. Claimed Misstatement of Law

It is improper for a prosecutor to misstate the law, particularly regarding the elements of the offense, and in reviewing such misstatement, the issue is whether there is a reasonable likelihood that the jury construed or applied the misstatement in an objectionable way. (People v. Centeno (2014) 60 Cal.4th 659, 666.)

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