Defendant also claims that the prosecutor improperly asked him if he gave the police a false name when they arrested him. This Court has held that it is inappropriate for a prosecutor to inquire about a defendant's use of an alias on some past, unspecified occasion. However, where the evidence is relevant to the witness' credibility under MRE 608 and MRE 609, such questions are proper. We find that defendant's use of an alias at the time of his arrest was relevant to his credibility. Therefore, the prosecutor's questions were not improper.
Defendant next argues that the prosecutor's closing argument shifted the burden of proof.
We have examined the allegedly improper comments and find them to be nothing more than a reasonable inference based on the evidence presented at trial, which is proper. Defendant also argues that the prosecutor improperly appealed to the sympathy of the jury. A prosecutor's comments must be considered in light of defense arguments. In this case, the prosecutor was not appealing to the jury for sympathy, but was responding to defense counsel's argument that a witness who cried on the stand was not sincere. We find no error.