Zambrano

INTRODUCTION

Defendant appeals from his conviction of selling and transporting cocaine (Health & Saf. Code, § 11352, subd. (a)) with one prior strike conviction (Pen. Code, § 667, subds. (b)-(i)) and one prison prior (Pen. Code, § 667.5, subd. (b)). He contends that the trial court prejudicially erred by allowing the prosecutor to ask him, on cross-examination, whether two police officers were lying about his involvement in an alleged drug transaction, and that the prosecutor committed misconduct by asking the questions. He argues that the prosecutor’s “were they lying” questions were improper because they called for his inadmissible lay opinion of the officers’ veracity, invaded the province of the jury to determine the credibility of witnesses, and were irrelevant. He further contends the prosecutor compounded her error by calling one of the officers in rebuttal to testify he was not lying and would not risk his job by lying, and by again emphasizing his inadmissible testimony in her rebuttal closing argument.

We affirm. We conclude that the prosecutor’s “were they lying” questions were improper, i.e., objectionable, because they sought defendant’s inadmissible lay…