State v. Watson

Summary

The court reversed Watson's Medicaid-fraud conviction because the prosecutor misstated both the evidence and the law during closing argument. The prosecutor incorrectly told the jury that Watson had offered no proof he worked the total hours reported and improperly suggested that submitting inaccurate timesheets alone established Medicaid fraud, omitting the required intent-to-defraud element. These errors, compounded by an inappropriate jury instruction, were prejudicial and required a new trial.