Opinion ID: 2331431
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 10

Heading: The trial court properly denied the motion for mistrial

Text: Turning to the facts in this case, the exchange at issue occurred during the State's examination of McCullough's cousin. The State asked what her cousin thought about seeing McCullough fighting. Defense counsel objected, and the objection was overruled. Her cousin stated that he did not know. The State then asked, Did you tell the police that this was a normal thing for her? Defense counsel objected again, but McCullough's cousin stated, No ma'am before the district court sustained the objection. McCullough immediately moved for a mistrial on the grounds that the State had improperly put her bad character in issue. The district court denied the motion, but it admonished the jury to disregard the question and answer. McCullough argues the error from the improper question was incurable because the suggestion that she fought frequently was highly inflammatory. She also argues the jury would assume she has a violent predisposition for fighting, despite her cousin's denial that he told the police it was a normal occurrence, because the jury would assume the State would only ask the question if it could prove it. We agree the question about what the cousin may have told police was improper and worded in such a way as to violate K.S.A. 60-447(b). The district court appropriately sustained the objection and sought to cure any residual implication by advising the jury to disregard both the question and the answer. But based on our review of the entire record, we do not find the exchange significant enough to believe there was any reasonable probability this inappropriate question affected the trial's outcome. This is particularly true when McCullough had the benefit of the trial court's jury admonition to disregard the improper question and the cousin's response, which contradicted the State's premise for the inquiry. We find the district court did not abuse its discretion by denying McCullough's motion for mistrial. Finally, we note that in her reply brief McCullough for the first time characterized the prosecutor's improper question as prosecutorial misconduct. In State v. Inkelaar, 293 Kan. 414, 428, 264 P.3d 81 (2011), this court held that a defendant may raise a prosecutorial misconduct issue based on a prosecutor's improper question for the first time on appeal if the defendant properly lodged the evidentiary objection required by K.S.A. 60-404. In other words, the prosecutorial misconduct claim is sufficiently preserved if the defendant made the evidentiary objections that serve as the basis for the prosecutorial misconduct argument. But Inkelaar is distinguishable because McCullough did not raise this issue at the first opportunity in her appellate brief. Instead, McCullough improperly raised it in her reply brief. Kansas Supreme Court Rule 6.05 (2011 Kan. Ct. R. Annot. 45) provides that a reply brief is reserved for responding to new material contained in the appellee's brief. An appellant may not raise new issues in a reply brief. City of Wichita v. McDonald's Corp., 266 Kan. 708, 724, 971 P.2d 1189 (1999) (A reply brief is an inappropriate vehicle for raising additional issues.). As such, this claim is not properly before the court.