Opinion ID: 1199062
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Misconduct During Voir Dire

Text: Defendant contends that the prosecutor engaged in misconduct during the voir dire of a prospective juror. These were the relevant remarks by the prosecutor: To [prove that a five-year-old boy was intentionally tortured to death], I'm going to have to present some extremely unpleasant evidence. I mean, just appalling evidence. [Not] just pictures. Frankly I have attempted to elect pictures that are bad but not as horrible as they could be. [¶] But you're going to hear ... a pathologist testify and I'm going to ask him to use diagrams and show the injuries, and all of you or most of you have had some general description of the kind of injuries we're talking about. They're terrible. And you might think to yourself I don't want to listen to this. Why is he presenting this awful stuff. Do you think you would do that? (18) Defendant asserts that the prosecutor's statements created an improper impression that there existed evidence against defendant of a more damaging nature than the evidence that would be produced at trial. The contention lacks merit. The prosecutor's remark was brief and the purpose of the inquiry was to ascertain whether the gruesome nature of the evidence might have an adverse effect on the prospective juror's ability to sit as a fair and impartial juror. When the statements are read in context, it cannot reasonably be concluded that the remark would have any significant impact on the jury; and, even if error, the comment was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt. (See People v. Jackson, supra, 28 Cal.3d at p. 305.)