It is a rare event when an appellate court overturns a murder conviction based upon improper prosecutorial summation. That is in fact what occurred in the recent decision of the Connecticut Appellate Court in State v. Santiago.
Citing a litany of errors including disregarding court ordered limitations on evidence, appealing to juror emotions and sympathies, personalizing opinions about the defendant's guilt, and vouching for witness' credibility, among others, the Court blasted prosecutor, Terrance D. Mariani Jr., senior assistant state's attorney for the Waterbury Judicial District. What probably pushed the case over the edge was the prior appellate history of the same prosecutor engaging in the same improper arguments in other cases.
