Opinion ID: 4503525
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: saavedra’s contentions on appeal

Text: Saavedra makes three arguments on appeal. First, he claims that the prosecutor engaged in prosecutorial misconduct by impermissibly eliciting the narration of the critical surveillance videotapes. According to Saavedra, the manner in which the prosecutor questioned the chief investigating officer during the playback of the video for the jury manifested an intent to call forth inadmissible hearsay and improper identifications. Saavedra also appends a claim to this argument that the “enhancing” of one of the videos was improper. 26 Saavedra’s counsel went so far as to call Aramiz a liar, prompting a curative instruction from the trial judge. 11 Second, Saavedra contends that the Superior Court abused its discretion by allowing a police witness of Hispanic descent to testify regarding the meaning, beyond a literal translation, of the phrase “la migra”—a phrase an important eyewitness said she heard Saavedra utter as he fled the scene. The State offered, and the court admitted, the testimony as a lay opinion under Rule 701 of the Delaware Rules of Evidence (“D.R.E.”), which Saavedra says was error. Third, Saavedra argues that the State engaged in prosecutorial misconduct when the prosecutor asked a question of a recalcitrant witness implying that the witness had previously identified Saavedra in a video, after the witness had denied doing so.