State v. Simmons

The opinion of the court was delivered by

Nuss, C.J.:

A jury convicted James Simmons of two counts of rape and one count of misdemeanor theft. Simmons appealed several issues, including five claims of prosecutorial misconduct during trial. The Court of Appeals affirmed Simmons’ convictions. We granted Simmons’ petition for review under K.S.A. 20-3018(b) on the prosecutorial misconduct claims only, obtaining jurisdiction under K.S.A. 60-2101(b).

We hold that prosecutorial misconduct denied Simmons a fair trial; we reverse and remand for a new trial.

Facts

On August 5, 2006, Simmons attended a house…