People v. Cowan
Annotate this CaseDefendant was sentenced to 65 years in prison after being convicted of sodomy of a person under age 10, two counts of oral copulation with a person under age 10, and two counts of lewd acts on a child. In this appeal, defendant argued that the prosecutor committed misconduct in closing argument by misstating the presumption of innocence and the burden of proof. The court agreed and concluded that it is improper for the prosecutor to misstate the law, and in particular to attempt to reduce the People's burden of proof beyond a reasonable doubt. The court explained that the prosecutor's inaccurate definition of reasonable doubt left in the minds of the jurors an image as graphic as a map. Accordingly, the court reversed the judgment.
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