United States v. John Richard Beckett

ALVIN B. RUBIN, Circuit Judge:

Prosecutorial misconduct, fortunately occurring only occasionally, mars any trial in which it occurs and gives grounds for appeal. But a conviction should not be set aside if the prosecutor’s conduct, however wrongful, did not in fact contribute to the guilty verdict and was, therefore, legally harmless. For this reason, despite the occurrence of improper conduct by the prosecutor, we affirm the conviction of John Richard Beckett on two counts of possession of an illegally made, unregistered, and unidentified sawed-off shotgun. Because, however, the Assistant…