Can a prosecutor be found guilty of misconduct when he intentionally asks questions that are inadmissible?

California, United States of America


The following excerpt is from People v. Wentworth, G048224 (Cal. App. 2014):

A prosecutor commits misconduct when he or she elicits inadmissible evidence in violation of a trial court's ruling. (People v. Crew (2003) 31 Cal.4th 822, 839.) "When a prosecutor intentionally asks questions, the answers of which he knows are inadmissible, the prosecutor is guilty of bad faith attempts to improperly persuade the court or jury." (People v. Parsons (1984) 156 Cal.App.3d 1165, 1170.) A prosecutor is also "'under a duty to guard against inadmissible statements from his witnesses and guilty of misconduct when he violates that duty.'" (Ibid.) Wentworth relies on the prophylactic safeguard that "[e]very prosecutor who offers a witness to testify to conversations with an accused should know what the witness will relate if given a free hand." (People v. Bentley (1955) 131 Cal.App.2d 687, 690, disapproved on another ground in People v. White (1958) 50 Cal.2d 428, 430-431.)

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