Question: Can a lawyer personally vouch for a witness in an argument to the jury?
Answer: Lawyers may not argue the credibility of witnesses at trial based upon their own personal knowledge or anything else besides the witnesses’ testimony at trial. See below. It is well settled that vouching for witnesses is generally impermissible. Lainhart v. State, 916 N.E.2d 924, 938 (Ind.Ct.App.2009). However, “‘a prosecutor may comment on the credibility of the witnesses as long as the assertions are based on reasons which arise from the evidence.'” Cooper, 854 N.E.2d at 836 (quoting Lopez v. State, 527 N.E.2d 1119, 1127 (Ind.1988)). See also Hobson v. State, 675 N.E.2d 1090, 1095 (Ind.1996) (prosecutor’s statement “I warned you that [defendants] are liars” was not misconduct because incongruities in testimony supported inference that someone had not been testifying truthfully). In addition, an attorney may properly argue any logical or reasonable conclusions based on his or her own analysis of the evidence. Bennett v. State, 423 N.E.2d 588, 592 (Ind.1981); see also Turnbow v. State, 637 N.E.2d 1329, 1334 (Ind.Ct.App.1994) (“A prosecutor may also properly comment on the evidence presented to the jury and argue logical conclusions from that evidence.”)
