Can a defendant bring a claim of prosecutorial misconduct at the Court of Appeal?

California, United States of America


The following excerpt is from People v. Scanlan, G057073 (Cal. App. 2020):

We evaluate claims of prosecutorial misconduct under well-established standards. "A prosecutor's conduct violates the Fourteenth Amendment to the federal Constitution when it infects the trial with such unfairness as to make the conviction a denial of due process. 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 trial court or the jury." (People v. Morales (2001) 25 Cal.4th 34, 44.)

Generally, in order to raise an alleged error in an appellate court, the issue must have first been raised in the trial court. (In re S.B. (2004) 32 Cal.4th 1287, 1293, fn. 2.) Specifically, a defendant forfeits a prosecutorial misconduct claim on appeal unless the defendant objected to the alleged misconduct when it occurred, and further asked the court to admonish the jury. (See People v. Ervine (2009) 47 Cal.4th 745, 806.)

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