California, United States of America
The following excerpt is from People v. Ruiz, B267195 (Cal. App. 2017):
"'The applicable federal and state standards regarding prosecutorial misconduct are well established. "'A prosecutor's . . . intemperate behavior violates the federal Constitution when it comprises a pattern of conduct "so egregious that it infects the trial with such unfairness as to make the conviction a denial of due process."'" [Citations.] Conduct by a prosecutor that does not render a criminal trial fundamentally unfair is prosecutorial misconduct under state law only if it involves "'"the use of deceptive or reprehensible methods to attempt to persuade either the court or the jury.'"" [Citation.]' [Citation.] '[W]hen the claim focuses upon comments made by the prosecutor before the jury, the question is whether there is a reasonable likelihood that the jury construed or applied any of the complained-of remarks in an objectionable fashion.'" (People v. Smithey (1999) 20 Cal.4th 936, 960.)
We view challenged statements in the context of the argument as a whole (People v. Dennis (1998) 17 Cal.4th 468, 522), and "we 'do not lightly infer' that the jury drew the most damaging rather than the least damaging meaning from the
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prosecutor's statements." (People v. Frye (1998) 18 Cal.4th 894, 970.)
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