2 Mischaracterizations by Prosecution + Failure to Object + Defense Counsel Embracing the Mischaracterizations as True = Cumulative Error and Reversal for Ineffective Assistance.

State v. King, 2010 UT App 396 (Utah Court of Appeals December 30, 2010).

This case has travelled between the State Supreme Court and the Court of Appeals various times on the issue of juror-bias and ineffective assistance of counsel.  The issue of juror-bias being finally resolved, the case is returned to the Court of Appeals to decide all remaining appellate claims.  The claim of prosecutorial misconduct and subsequent ineffective assistance of counsel are the pivotal issues and the only claims addressed in this summary. 

In closing argument, the Prosecutor stated that the abuse happened in seconds (contrary to the victim’s testimony, which was that the abuse continued for two – three minutes).  Admitted evidence also included a statement of the witness to a friend “What if I lied?”  The prosecutor alleged that this statement the victim’s concern about what people would think if they thought she was a liar.  Defendant’s counsel failed to object to, or contradict these statements in his closing argument; in fact, he embraced the idea that the abuse occurred in only seconds.  Because the testimony of the victim was the basis for the conviction, these cumulative errors warrant reversal.

Full Decision available at http://www.utcourts.gov/opinions/appopin/king123010.pdf