State v. McCoy

Summary

The court held that the prosecutor's improper attempts to elicit excluded statements and invitation to speculate about facts outside the evidence did not deprive the defendant of a fair trial because the improprieties were limited, unanswered, and addressed by prompt curative measures. It also held that the trial court lost subject matter jurisdiction when the defendant began serving his sentence, so the pending new-trial motion should have been dismissed rather than denied. The court rejected relief based on sentencing before ruling on the motion and on plain error because the defendant showed neither reversible harm nor manifest injustice.