SANDPOINT - The Idaho Court of Appeals is affirming a Spirit Lake man's manslaughter conviction despite instances of prosecutorial misconduct.

Paul James Cavanaugh was charged with the felony and leaving the scene of a crash in connection with the 2005 death of Sarah Marie Jones.

Jones, 18, was walking along Blanchard Cutoff Road when she was struck by a pickup truck registered to Cavanaugh. Cavanaugh argued somebody else was behind the wheel because he was too drunk to drive.

A Bonner County jury, however, rejected Cavanaugh's claims and convicted him of the offenses. He was subsequently ordered to serve up to 15 years in prison.

Cavanaugh, 51, appealed the convictions on grounds that the prosecution committed misconduct during his trial's closing arguments. He also argued his sentence was unjustly excessive.

Cavanaugh argued that Deputy Prosecutor Roger Hanlon committed misconduct during his closing argument by telling jurors it was Cavanaugh's fault they were placed in the difficult position of having to decide the case. Hanlon also implied that the defense was trying to trip him up during closing remarks by interrupting him, Cavanaugh asserted.

Appellate Judge John Melanson agreed and ruled that the former comment was calculated to arouse negative emotions of jurors and the latter remark improperly disparaged the defense.

Cavanaugh maintained the misconduct was more than a merely harmless error due to the length of deliberations and a lack of physical evidence that put him in the driver's seat at the time of the collision.

But the errors could not overwhelm the strength of the state's case.

Cavanaugh's own statements to a dispatcher and a deputy following the crash put him behind the wheel, Melanson noted.

"As such, we conclude beyond a reasonable doubt that the prosecutor's misconduct constituted harmless error because Cavanaugh has not shown that the error affected the outcome of the trial proceedings," Melanson wrote in an unpublished opinion released on Wednesday.

Judges Karen Lansing and Sergio Gutierrez concurred with Melanson.

The appeals judges also upheld the sentence imposed by 1st District Judge Steve Verby.

Cavanaugh is imprisoned at the Idaho Correctional Center in Kuna. He is eligible for parole in 2013, according to the Idaho Department of Correction.