Rodriguez v. StateRodriguez v. State
We reject the defendant‘s contention that he was entitled to the entry of a judgment of acquittal on the ground that the evidence was insufficient to sustain his first-degree murder conviction. We also reject his alternative contention that the prosecutor‘s misstatement of the law during closing argument — “If you believe [the defendant‘s story] is not credible and if you believe he took the stand and didn‘t tell the truth, he is guilty of first degree murder” — could only be remedied by the grant of the defendant‘s request for a mistrial. We conclude instead that the harm of the unquestionably erroneous remark was capable of being cured by an instruction to the jury, and although the instruction given — namely, to disregard the remark — is arguably less than adequate, if the defendant was dissatisfied with the instruction, it was his burden to request a more adequate one.
Affirmed.