Opinion ID: 1175474
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 23

Heading: Unprofessional Remark

Text: During the prosecution's redirect examination of Mrs. Harrison, defense counsel requested a bench conference. The record indicates that the prosecutor directed the following remark to the jury: I am going to object to these Bench conferences. At the bench conference the court admonished the prosecutor to confine his remarks to the court, and the prosecutor apologized for his remark. Appellant now claims that this comment amounted to serious prosecutorial misconduct. We agree with appellant and the trial court that the prosecutor should not have made the statement. But there are bound to be minor indiscretions like this at many trials. [A] criminal conviction is not to be lightly overturned on the basis of a prosecutor's comments standing alone, for the statements or conduct must be viewed in context; only by doing so can it be determined whether the prosecutor's conduct affected the fairness of the trial. United States v. Young, ___ U.S. ___, 105 S.Ct. 1038, 1044, 84 L.Ed.2d 1 (1985). Appellant has not shown that this mistake had any impact on his conviction, so it does not justify reversal. Capshaw v. State, supra, 714 P.2d 349. Appellant also complains about the following statement made by the prosecutor in closing argument: I want to counter a few of the cheap shots, the insinuations, the distortions and misstatements made in that final argument. But defense counsel did not object to the statement when it was made. [T]he general rule in Wyoming is that the failure to timely interpose an objection to improper argument is treated as a waiver, unless the misconduct of the prosecutor is so flagrant as to constitute prejudicial error   . Jones v. State, Wyo., 580 P.2d 1150, 1153 (1978). Even if the prosecutor's argument was improper, which we doubt, it was certainly not so flagrant as to justify reversal without an objection. Appellant's various claims of prosecutorial misconduct are without merit.