Commonwealth v. DeMars

Do multiple instances of prosecutorial misconduct add up to a substantial risk of a miscarriage of justice? We think in the circumstances of this case they do, and, therefore, we reverse the defendant’s convictions.1

A Superior Court jury convicted the defendant of thrice raping the complainant when she was fifteen years old (G. L. c. 265, § 23), of twice posing and photographing her in the *789nude (G. L. c. 272, § 29A), and of assault and battery upon her, a lesser included offense of assault and battery by means of a dangerous weapon (G. L. c. 265, § 15A(¿)), the crime charged. The jury found…