Opinion ID: 2569354
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 23

Heading: Whether the prosecutor committed misconduct during the guilt phase of the trial.

Text: After reviewing the record of the guilt phase of Harlan's trial, we conclude: (1) the prosecutor did not refer to victim-impact evidence during opening argument, and the trial court's instruction to the jury to disregard the prosecutor's use of his fingers to represent quotation marks cured any prejudice to the defendant; (2) the prosecutor did not elicit improper character evidence from Creazzo, because her testimony regarding Harlan's actions and intent was based on her own personal observations and what Maloney told her and thus was proper; (3) the trial court instructed the jury to disregard the prosecutor's statement about not having been given a transcript of a witness's statement to the defense, so no error is shown; (4) the trial court correctly found that the victim's mother's reference to sewing up the slit on the victim's skirt was inadvertent and not a product of prosecutorial misconduct; (5) any potential prejudice raised by the prosecutor's reference to petty theft allegations against a defense witness was cured when the trial court instructed the jury to disregard any testimony about a misdemeanor offense and not consider it for any purpose whatsoever; and (6) the prosecution's closing argument was based on the evidence and reasonable inferences from the evidence: the argument did not contain the improper personal opinions of the prosecutor; it did not misstate the law or the facts in a prejudicial way; and the trial court correctly denied Harlan's motion for a mistrial.