Opinion ID: 3186633
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Jury Foreperson

Text: ¶11. In Ballenger v. State, 667 So. 2d 1242 (Miss. 1995),2 the trial court instructed a particular member of the jury to act as foreman and Ballenger failed to object at trial or demonstrate prejudice on appeal. Id. at 1258. This Court found that Ballenger had waived his right to argue the issue on appeal but noted that “[i]n the future, trial judges are advised not to appoint jury foremen. Who is to be the foreman is a decision which should be made by fellow jurors.” Id. at 1259. ¶12. We are presented with the same situation as Ballenger. Hall forfeited his right to argue this issue on appeal by failing to object contemporaneously below. While the trial court should not have selected the jury foreperson, this error is not grounds for reversal on appeal. In Catholic Diocese of Natchez-Jackson v. Jaquith, this Court held the distinction between harmless error and reversible error is as follows: 2 Post-conviction relief subsequently was granted on other grounds in Ballenger v. State, 761 So. 2d 214 (Miss. 2002). 6 To warrant reversal, two elements must be shown: error, and injury to the party appealing. Error is harmless when it is trivial, formal, or merely academic, and not prejudicial to the substantial rights of the party assigning it, and where it in no way affects the final outcome of the case; it is prejudicial, and ground for reversal, only when it affects the final result of the case and works adversely to a substantial right of the party assigning it. Obviously, in order for the rule of harmless error to be called into play in support of a judgment, the judgment must be otherwise supportable, and will be reversed when there is nothing in the pleadings or evidence to support it. Catholic Diocese of Natchez-Jackson v. Jaquith, 224 So. 2d 216, 221 (Miss.1969) (quoting 5 Am. Jur. 2d Appeal and Error § 776 (1962)). See also Gray v. State, 799 So. 2d 53, 61 (Miss. 2001); Jefferson v. State, 818 So. 2d 1099, 1112 (Miss. 2002).