Opinion ID: 1119842
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 12

Heading: Ex Parte Conduct

Text: Lord next contends that his conviction must be reversed because his right to a fair trial was denied by prosecutorial conduct. He claims that the prosecuting attorney, C. Danny Clem, engaged in improper ex parte contact in violation of RPC 4.2 by exchanging vulgarities with him during trial. [16] Lord submitted an affidavit to the trial court alleging that the prosecutor called him derogatory names and made disparaging comments about him. Lord corroborates these stories with a newspaper account of Clem's statements to the Rotary Club after the trial. [17] Although Lord did not report the alleged incidents to his counsel during trial, he contends that it is likely that the jury observed the exchanges. There is nothing in the record which supports his contention. Both of the prosecutors submitted affidavits stating that there were no exchanges between Clem and Lord in the presence of the jury. Neither of Lord's trial attorneys submitted affidavits in support of this motion. Lord brought a posttrial motion requesting a new trial and a fact-finding hearing to determine if the jury had observed any contact between Lord and the prosecutor. The trial court found that a hearing was unnecessary and denied the motion because, even presuming that Lord's allegations were true, the alleged misconduct would not rise to the level of requiring a new trial. [18] In reaching this conclusion, the court considered: that there were two and-a-half months of trial, that there was overwhelming evidence supporting the conviction of the defendant, [and] that there was more than adequate evidence presented in the penalty phase for the jury to have arrived at the decision to apply the death penalty ... [28] Lord relies on the Rules of Professional Conduct (RPC) to support his allegation of prosecutorial misconduct which, he argues, requires reversal. However, the remedy for a claimed violation of the RPC is a request for discipline by the bar association. In the context of a criminal trial, Lord's allegation of prosecutorial misconduct is reviewed under applicable case law. [29, 30] The granting of a new trial based on allegations of prosecutorial misconduct is within the sound discretion of the trial court. State v. Carr, 13 Wn. App. 704, 709, 537 P.2d 844 (1975). A new trial should be granted only if the defendant's right to a fair trial was prejudiced. The trial court is in the best position to most effectively determine if prosecutorial misconduct prejudiced a defendant's right to a fair trial. Carr, at 709. Furthermore, Lord's conviction must be reversed only if there is a substantial likelihood that the alleged prosecutorial misconduct affected the verdict. State v. Wood, 44 Wn. App. 139, 145, 721 P.2d 541, review denied, 107 Wn.2d 1011 (1986). Based on the record before us, we conclude that the trial court did not abuse its discretion in denying Lord's motion. Additionally, we cannot conclude that there is a substantial likelihood that the jury observed the alleged exchanges, much less that it affected the verdict. Accordingly, Lord's claim of prosecutorial misconduct does not require reversal. Having found no reversible error during the guilt phase, we turn now to the penalty phase of Lord's trial.