State v. Brunnemer

Defendant appeals judgments of conviction for multiple domestic-violence offenses. He assigns error to the trial court’s failure to sustain defense objections or grant a mistrial in response to the state’s closing argument, in which the prosecutor made comments critical of defense counsel and asserted that the defense was “not asking for justice.” We conclude that the prosecutor’s statements crossed the boundary of permissible argument and prejudiced defendant’s right to a fair trial. Accordingly, we conclude that the trial court abused its discretion, and we reverse and remand the judgments.1