People v. Reid

Drug prosecutions can stir emotions in prospective jurors. It happened here. They also can cause prosecutors to engage in rhetorical overkill. That, too, happened here. The defendant contends these events and an evidentiary ruling concerning her proposed character witnesses fatally infected her jury trial.

We affirm her conviction of delivery of a controlled substance and her sentence of nine years’ imprisonment.

JURY SELECTION

The defendant had used five of her seven allotted peremptory challenges when the trial judge began questioning prospective juror Richard Kwiecinski. The relevant…