State v. Inman

INTRODUCTION

Vouching evidence, by its nature, is quite prejudicial to a defendant, and its admission usurps the province of the jury and undermines the fairness of a trial. Because of that, in criminal cases where a trial court has plainly erred by failing to strike true vouching testimony by a lay or expert witness, and where the credibility of the verified witness is a significant issue in the case, we have exercised our discretion to correct the error. Here, despite the explicit testimony by a police officer about the truthfulness of the victim, whose credibility was identified by both…