A prosecutor’s cross-examination and closing argument laced with homophobic invective constitute misconduct but fall short of warranting a new trial for the defendant, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled Thursday (article available here).
William McDermott, who was convicted of murder in 1982, had asked the court to throw that verdict and grant him a new trial based on the prosecutor’s inappropriate questions about his sexual orientation that were based on homophobic stereotypes.
“It goes without saying that cross-examination or a closing argument that plays on a juror’s potential homophobic bias has no place in a criminal trial. Whether misconduct leads to a new trial on collateral review, however, depends on the nature of the errors and the significance of the errors in the context of the trial,” the opinion said.
The case is Commonwealth vs. McDermott, No. SJC-13394 (Mass. Jan. 25, 2024).