Alcala v. State

Jess Alcala has appealed to this court from a conviction of manslaughter in connection with the death of his wife, Emma Alcala.

Counsel for the defendant concedes a person accused of crime cannot ordinarily expect a perfect trial. He also concedes most of his many assignments of error do not involve major error. He says, however, even if we do not find any one thing sufficient to constitute reversible error, we should consider that an accumulation of all departures from a fair standard adds up to sufficient prejudice for reversal in this case.

Our review of the record convinces us that, on the…