By this it is meant that he is entitled to a trial before an impartial judge and an unprejudiced jury in keeping with substantive and procedural due process requirements of the Fourteenth Amendment. N.C. Gen. Stat. The defendant has the burden to show prejudicial error. The decision to grant or deny mistrial rests within the sound discretion of the trial court and will not be disturbed on appeal absent a clear showing of abuse of discretion. Control of counsel's remarks during closing argument is left largely to the discretion of the trial court.
Counsel have wide latitude in making their arguments to the jury.
However, limits exist to jury arguments. Counsel shall not engage in undignified or discourteous conduct that is degrading to a tribunal. Therefore, the discretion of the trial court regarding jury arguments is not unbridled. The trial court has a duty, upon objection, to censor remarks not warranted by either the evidence or the law, or remarks calculated to mislead or prejudice the jury. Moreover, where counsel's arguments stray so far from the bounds of propriety as to impede the defendant's right to a fair trial, it is proper for the trial court to intervene ex mero motu .