Opinion ID: 1035557
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Challenge II

Text: The following is an additional statement that the prosecutor made during closing argument: 31 Case: 11-41376 Document: 00512323905 Page: 32 Date Filed: 07/29/2013 Nos. 11-41376 c/w 11-41392 [I]n every single one of those recordings, ladies and gentlemen, [Salas] implicates himself as being a member of the conspiracy as having not only possessed the cocaine that was seized with him. We proved it was cocaine, yes. We have to prove it was cocaine. That’s why we brought chemist after chemist after chemist to testify that the substance that was seized. . . . (emphasis added). The district court halted this statement sua sponte, without Salas’s trial counsel proffering an objection. Thus, we review Salas’s present challenge for plain error. Gracia, 522 F.3d at 600 n.2. Salas’s challenge cannot withstand review. First, Salas cannot show that the “chemist after chemist after chemist” statement triggered plain error because the prosecution had called four forensic chemists from the DEA to testify. If anything, the prosecutor understated in her summation of the evidence. Moreover, the district court halted the statement sua sponte. Thus, the only plain error would have been not declaring a mistrial, which Salas’s trial counsel did not request and which would have been unwarranted regardless. Second, even if repetition of the word “chemist” could be interpreted as bolstering, it did not come close to “seriously affect[ing] the fairness, integrity, or public reputation” of the trial. Gracia, 522 F.3d at 600 n.2 (citations omitted).