Opinion ID: 60360
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The prosecutor's errors were plain.

Text: We next turn to the question whether the prosecutor's errors were plain, which we define as clear and obvious. [16] The government urges us to put the prosecutor's remarks in the context of counsel for Gracia's earlier innuendo that the agents were less than forthcoming. We agree that the magnitude of the prejudicial effect of the prosecutor's remarks should not be weighed in a vacuum, and we recognize that the trial record contains statements by counsel for Gracia indirectly implying that the agents might not be altogether truthful. [17] Thus, the prosecutor's attempts to vouch for the agents' credibility should be seen as a response to Gracia's effort to discredit the agents. We weigh the magnitude of the prejudice resulting from the prosecutor's obviously improper statements in this context. Nevertheless, the context in which each of the prosecutor's improper remarks must be tested is also shaped by his other three improper remarks. Just as we must evaluate the prosecutor's statements in the context of Gracia's earlier attempts to suggest that the agents could be prevaricating, we cannot separately consider each of the prosecutor's erroneous remarks in a framework that excludes his other near-simultaneous, similar attempts to bolster the credibility of the agents. Although we recognize that, in assessing prejudice, occurrences of prosecutorial misconduct ordinarily must be viewed individually, [18] the four remarks about which Gracia cries foul occurred within minutes of each other during the prosecutor's rebuttal closing argument. In this instance, the cumulative effect of these proximate comments was greater than the sum of its parts. The prejudicial effect of the prosecutor's statements thus must be weighed in pari materiae. Our analysis would be deficient if we were simply to assess the isolated prejudice resulting from each error standing alone, without temporally and substantively connecting each remark to the prosecutor's witness-bolstering efforts in his rebuttal closing argument. When we review the prosecutor's remarks within this context, we conclude that his errors were clear and obvious. The four at-issue statements were neither isolated nor limited, but were cumulative components of a single diatribe, indisputably geared toward bolstering the agents' testimony, and thus constituting plain error.