State v. Roberts, 237 N.C. App. 551 (Dec. 2, 2014)

In this DWI case, the court rejected the defendant’s argument that comments made during the prosecutor’s final argument and detailed in the court’s opinion were so grossly improper that the trial court should have intervened ex mero motu. Among the challenged comments were those relating to the defendant’s status as an alcoholic and the extent to which he had developed a tolerance for alcoholic beverages. Finding that “the prosecutor might have been better advised to refrain from making some of the challenged comments,” the court declined to find that the arguments were so grossly improper that the trial court should have intervened ex mero motu.