State v. Sherman
Annotate this CaseIn this case both Defendant and the State urged the Supreme Court to reconsider and alter the legal tests it has applied to claims of prosecutorial misconduct since State v. Tosh. The Supreme Court overruled Tosh and adopted a modified approach that applies to what have historically been known as prosecutorial misconduct claims. Here a jury convicted Defendant of first-degree felony murder and aggravated battery. Defendant appealed, arguing that the prosecutor committed misconduct during his trial. The Supreme Court overruled the particularized harmlessness inquiry in the context of prosecutorial misconduct claims commanded by Tosh and adopted a simpler second step in the two-step analysis. Specifically, inside the confines of a criminal appeal, the Court will henceforth review prosecutorial behavior for “prosecutorial error.” The two steps in the analysis can now be described as error and prejudice. Further, and reversal of a conviction is not an appropriate sanction for prosecutorial misconduct. Applying the new two-step analysis to Defendant’s claim, the Supreme Court held that no reversible error occurred in Defendant’s case.
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