Opinion ID: 2800624
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: A Parting Shot.

Text: In a last-ditch effort to save the day, the defendant contends that even if none of the prosecutor's actions warrants a new trial when viewed in isolation, their combined effect tips the scales. This contention invokes the cumulative error doctrine, which holds that the aggregate impact of errors may sometimes necessitate setting aside a verdict even though each individual error is harmless. See Sepulveda, 15 F.3d at 1195-96. In this case, the doctrine adds very little to the defendant's overall attack. It is the aggregate effect of errors — not the aggregate effect of non-errors — that counts. See Williams v. Drake, 146 F.3d 44, 49 (1st Cir. 1998). Viewed against this backdrop, aggregating the effect of the defendant's claims of error leads nowhere. Even considered as a group, the prosecutor's challenged actions do not synergistically achieve the critical mass necessary to cast a shadow upon the integrity of the verdict. Id. (internal quotation marks omitted).