In a case involving forceable sodomy, the U.S. Supreme Court recently struggled with the often-thin constitutional line between what a prosecutor can and cannot say in closing arguments.
The Constitution clearly intends that criminal defendants be present at their own trials, and they almost always are. In this case, however, the justices are being asked to consider whether a prosecutor can use that presence in closing arguments to suggest that the defendant tailored his own trial testimony to counteract the testimony of the witnesses against him.
