State v. Rutledge

HARRIS, Senior Judge.

Defense counsel in this criminal prosecution did not at the time challenge the prosecutor for unfair and unprofessional arguments during the State’s summations to the jury. So, although the comments were clearly improper, the defendant is confronted by an obvious preservation problem. Nothing is more basic in the law of appeal and error than the axiom that a party cannot sing a song to us that was not first sung in trial court. We do not subscribe to the plain error rule in Iowa, have been persistent and resolute in rejecting it, and are not at all inclined to yield on…