Opinion ID: 2620375
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Statement about the Chains

Text: [¶28] While questioning Officer Huston on rebuttal, the prosecutor stated,“[s]o accepting Defendant’s testimony as true that he had safety chains on at the time that this [accident] occurred being placed on the side of the plates, do you have - - .” Evans did not actually testify the chains were attached at the time of the accident. Instead, Evans testified he properly hooked up the safety chains and that, in between the time he first attached the chains and the time of the accident, he did not notice that the safety chains were ever detached. [¶29] Applying the facts to the two-part misconduct inquiry, the prosecutor’s statement about Evans braking does not qualify as misconduct under the first prong as the mischaracterization of Evans’s testimony is negligible. Although Evans did not directly state the chains were connected at the time of the accident, his testimony could reasonably be inferred to support that fact. The State may have made an unwarranted logical leap in assuming Evans testified that the chains were attached during the accident, but the State’s misstatement did not deny Evans a fair trial. Inappropriate prosecutorial comments, standing alone, generally do not justify a reversal of a criminal conviction obtained in an otherwise fair trial. State v. Montano , 2012 ND 59, ¶ 10, 813 N.W.2d 612; Pena Garcia , 2012 ND 11, ¶ 6, 812 N.W.2d 328. In light of the entire trial, it is clear the State’s innocuous remark did not rise to the level of misconduct.