Opinion ID: 4237534
Heading Depth: 5
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Comments about defense witnesses

Text: ¶96 Hulsey claims that the prosecutor insinuated in his closing argument that defense witness Paul Greene, who testified about the Shot Spotter, was untruthful. The prosecutor discussed Mr. Greene’s candor and encouraged the jurors to infer that his different styles of answering corresponded with the varying truthfulness of his statements. The prosecutor stated that Mr. Greene “is somebody that you really can’t trust.” ¶97 Counsel have wide latitude to argue reasonable inferences from the evidence, but cannot make insinuations that have no evidentiary support. See State v. Cornell, 179 Ariz. 314, 331 (1994). Here, the prosecutor’s conduct was close to crossing the line, but the record did contain facts on which he could fairly base his argument. See State v. Hughes, 193 Ariz. 72, 85–86 ¶ 59 (1998). The prosecutor highlighted his observations that Mr. 30 STATE V. HULSEY Opinion of the Court Greene was sometimes less vocal during cross-examination than in direct examination. From this, the prosecutor told the jurors that in order to assess Greene’s credibility, they should consider the way he answered questions. In context, the comments were not improper.