Opinion ID: 2795881
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Misstatement of Burden

Text: A few statements by the prosecutor in the course of a lengthy closing and rebuttal suggested the jury needed to decide if the child victim was telling the truth or had “made this all up” or was “evil.” The Washington courts held these were improper statements of the law and the burden of proof. See State v. Tobey, 138 Wash. App. 1060 (June 4, 2007) (unpubl.) (citing State v. Fleming, 921 P.2d 1076, 1078 (Wash. App. 1996)). The jury, however, was accurately instructed that 3 arguments by counsel were not evidence, that only the court could define the law for the jury, and that it needed to “have an abiding belief in the truth of the charge” to be satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt. Moreover, the jury appears to have carefully weighed the evidence and testimony, convicting on some but not all of the counts charged. The prosecutor’s statements, though erroneous, were not so obviously egregious as to undermine the fundamental fairness of the proceeding and have a substantial impact on the outcome of the trial.1