Supreme Court of Connecticut
State v. Gonzalez
March 2, 2021338 Conn. 108
Summary
The court affirmed the convictions, holding that the prosecutor's decision to reserve a detailed discussion of evidence for rebuttal did not deprive the defendant of his Sixth Amendment right to present a closing argument or his Fourteenth Amendment right to a fair trial. The defendant had notice of the state's theory and the evidence supporting it, and defense counsel in fact challenged the reliability of the DNA and fingerprint evidence. Even assuming the prosecutor's DNA and fingerprint characterizations were improper, their limited impact, the jury instructions, and the strength of the state's case made any error harmless.