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Defense urges reversal after prosecutor called defendant a 'thug' and told jury to 'do your duty'; state says curative instruction cured error
Summary
Appellant's counsel told the appellate panel that a prosecutor's closing argument used a racially pejorative term and urged jurors to 'do your duty,' arguing the statements prejudiced a mostly white jury; the state and trial judge responded at trial with a curative instruction and an order to retract.
At oral argument, Seth Seagraves, counsel for appellant Caprice Pete, told the appellate panel that the prosecutor used a racially pejorative term in closing argument and later urged jurors to "do your duty." Seagraves told the court the prosecutor, a white attorney, called Pete a "thug" during closing and then said that if jurors did not convict "he will have gotten away with it," prompting a timely objection.
Seagraves said the trial judge sustained the objection and issued a curative instruction and ordered the state to retract, but he told the panel the state…
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