The state Court of Appeals Monday upheld the 2002 murder conviction of Indle Gifford King Jr., who killed his mail-order bride in Mountlake Terrace.
Among other things, King argued that his first-degree murder conviction should be overturned because a deputy prosecutor repeatedly called him a liar and because he wasn’t granted a separate trial on a count of witness tampering.
He and Daniel Larson, who rented a room in his house, were convicted of strangling Anastasia King, his wife of more than two years, who came from Kyrgyzstan in the former Soviet Union.
King said he was prejudiced by the fact the two counts were tried at the same time. The court said he failed to show that the trial court’s ruling to keep the counts together was "manifestly unreasonable," or that the trial judge abused his discretion.
In closing arguments, prosecutors repeatedly called King a liar, and that conduct was misconduct and prejudicial, King alleged.
The appeals court said it wasn’t.
Prosecutors are allowed to argue "inferences from the evidence, including inferences as to why the jury should not believe the defendant," the court ruled.
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