Can a prosecutor in a criminal case commit misconduct under either federal or state law?

California, United States of America


The following excerpt is from People v. Girgis, D070461 (Cal. App. 2017):

A prosecutor in a criminal case can commit misconduct under either federal or state law. "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 persuade either the trial court or the jury." (People v. Morales (2001) 25 Cal.4th 34, 44.)

"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; see People v. Crew (2003) 31 Cal.4th 822, 839.) A prosecutor is also " 'under a duty to guard against inadmissible statements from his witnesses and guilty of misconduct when he violates that duty.' " (Parsons, supra, at p. 1170.)

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