Hess v. State

OPINION

Judge SUDDOCK.

A jury convicted Christopher S. Hess of second-and third-degree assault for strangling his mother, Patricia Hess. On appeal, he challenges aspects of the prosecutor’s final argument. We agree that some of the prosecutor’s statements were inflammatory and thus improper. But because Hess did not object to these remarks, he must establish that they undermined the fundamental fairness of his trial. We conclude that they did not.

Facts and proceedings

Responding to a report of an assault in progress, Anchorage police went to the apartment where Patricia Hess lived with her son,…