Whether a prosecutor's blatant appeals to racial prejudice constitute plain error, even if the defendant cannot show that they altered the jury's verdict

QUESTION PRESENTED Petitioner is an African-American man who was tried for sexually assaulting a white woman. During the prosecutor’s opening statement, she gratuitously contrasted the alleged victim’s “pasty white” skin with petitioner’s “dark” skin. She described the incident as “a dark penis going into a white body.” During the trial, she repeatedly called the jury’s attention to petitioner’s race and to the fact that he is “dark complected” below the waist. Although the prosecutor’s comments had nothing to do with any issue at trial, defense counsel never objected to any of these errors. The Colorado Court of Appeals reversed for plain error, but the Colorado Supreme Court held that the errors were not plain because petitioner had not shown that they altered the jury’s verdict. The question presented is whether, to establish that a prosecutor’s blatant appeals to racial prejudice constitute plain error, the defendant must show that they altered the jury’s verdict.