When reviewing a claim of prosecutorial misconduct, the reviewing court will first determine whether the prosecutor erred. Here, the prosecutor asked Sergeant Green about the existence of an investigation of a shooting in St. Paul. This question followed an answer by Sergeant Green that revealed that after the shooting in north Minneapolis, Newson dropped off one of the men in St. Paul. Even if the statement was improper, it did not go to the merits of the case and does not amount to prosecutorial misconduct. The question did not implicate either Newson or any of his accomplices.
Prosecutorial error is sometimes curable by corrective instructions.
Additionally, the court properly instructed the jury on the burden of proof. Given the court's instructions to the jury, we conclude that the prosecutor did not err and accordingly we need not reach the issue of whether the prosecutor's conduct harmed Newson.