Commonwealth v. Hrabak

Following a jury trial in Superior Court, the defendant was convicted of two counts of rape of a child,1 *649John,* 2 and also one count of indecent assault and battery upon another child, Anna, who is John’s older sister.3 On appeal, the defendant claims error in the prosecutor’s closing argument and in the trial judge’s refusal to permit cross-examination of John (who was nineteen at the time of the trial) about his arrest for marijuana possession. One of the rape convictions must be reversed because the prosecutor misstated the evidence during closing argument and also urged the jury to…