Does a prosecutor's use of the word "ploy" to describe mitigating evidence constitute a personal attack on the integrity of opposing counsel?

On appeal, defendant claims the prosecutor's use of the word "ploy" suggested to the jury that the mitigating evidence had not been properly admitted and constituted a personal attack on the integrity of opposing counsel. The claim lacks merit. We do not understand the prosecutor's argument as challenging the court's ruling or defense counsel's integrity. Immediately after the court overruled defense counsel's objection, the prosecutor clarified his position: "The point that I was making in going through some of this evidence of poor upbringing, abusive-abused child and its relevance, is that it ignores the obvious in this case," namely, that such evidence "is not an acceptable excuse for a lifetime of moral failure by this defendant." In short, the prosecutor simply argued that the evidence relating to defendant's childhood had little mitigating force and did not warrant sympathy. This he was entitled to do. (People v. Dennis (1998) 17 Cal.4th 468, 547-548, 71 Cal.Rptr.2d 680, 950 P.2d 1035.)