Opinion ID: 2251395
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Witness' Reference to Prison

Text: Appellant claims he should have been granted a mistrial when witness Marion Lentine referred to his having been in prison. She had been asked by defense counsel on cross-examination, Was he welcome in Santino's as a patron? He really didn't create any trouble for you, did he? She replied, He hadn't since he came back from prison the last time. Counsel objected, and his subsequent motion for mistrial was denied. Evidence of unrelated criminal activity is inadmissible on the question of guilt. Brown v. State (1984), Ind., 459 N.E.2d 376. But where evidence of criminal activity is revealed, the error does not necessarily result in reversal. See, English v. State (1985), Ind., 485 N.E.2d 93. The burden is on appellant to show he was placed in grave peril when his motion for mistrial was denied, Blood v. State (1980), 272 Ind. 417, 398 N.E.2d 671, and we can conclude only that he was not. We have held the evidence was sufficient to convict Saperito. Of course, the test for harmless error is not whether the evidence was sufficient without the offending testimony, but whether testimony might have had a substantial influence on the verdict. White v. State (1971), 257 Ind. 64, 272 N.E.2d 312. In light of the victim's testimony, the photographs of his injuries, Saperito's statement to Marion and to the police, and the damage done to his credibility and Dodd's by virtue of the letter, we conclude the error was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt. Chapman v. California (1967), 386 U.S. 18, 87 S.Ct. 824, 17 L.Ed.2d 705.