Opinion ID: 451631
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: refusal to declare mistrial

Text: 28 During the trial, FBI Agent Leary related for the jury Messer's own first-hand account of the gruesome murder. At one point, the agent's testimony was interrupted when Wayne Tanner, the father of the victim, lunged toward the defendant screaming and shouting. Messer's first argument is that the trial court erred in not declaring a mistrial as a result of this incident. We disagree. 29 The following excerpt from the trial transcript depicts the outburst: 30 AGENT LEARY: He said while they were walking down the railroad embankment Rhonda willingly accompanied him thinking that he was just looking for a rock. After he left the railroad track he went down into the woods a short distance and when he got to the point in the woods he told Rhonda that he wanted to play a game with her, he said at that point he started touching her, he said down there in between her legs and thereafter.... now, during this time I'm interviewing him he was crying and had his head in this [sic] hands and some of the statement was just disjointed, the next thing he talked about was that she was laying on the ground and crying. He said to stop her from crying he stabbed her in the chest several times with his knife. He said he couldn't remember the exact number of times he had stabbed her. I asked him did he cut her anywhere other than on the chest and he said he remembered slashing her abdomen with his knife. I asked him if he had or attempted to have sexual intercourse with her and he said no that he hadn't and he said that he didn't try to have intercourse with her because he didn't want to hurt her. I asked him if he took off his clothes ... (At this point and time the Court was disrupted by someone in the audience which was later identified as Mr. Tanner, the father of Rhonda Tanner, which was raging and lunging forward towards the Defendant, and at this time a State Trooper along with other officers seized Mr. Tanner). 31 MR. TANNER: ... He ... He'll pay! You're liable! ... you'll pay. You'll pay. You're liable. Oh! What you think ... oh you ... you're going to get it ... you.... 32 THE COURT: Let the jury go out to the jury room. 33 (T. at 371-72). 3 34 After the jury was removed, Sawhill immediately moved for a mistrial. The motion was denied and after curative instructions were given, the trial resumed. Sawhill renewed his motion several times throughout the course of the trial but each time it was again denied. 35 Because the trial judge is in the best position to evaluate the prejudicial effect of a spectator's outburst, the decision on whether to grant a mistrial lies within his sound discretion. See e.g., United States v. Brooks, 670 F.2d 148, 152 (11th Cir.1982), cert. denied, 457 U.S. 1124, 102 S.Ct. 2943, 73 L.Ed.2d 1339 (1982). Absent an abuse of that discretion, this court will not intervene. Id. In the instant case, we find no such abuse. 36 Our review of the record indicates that the trial court twice instructed the jury to disregard the outburst; once immediately after the outburst, and then again during the sentencing phase. 4 Both times the court inquired as to whether the outburst would in any way affect the jurors judgment, and both times the jury gave no indication that it would. (T. at 379 and 500). After the trial, during a hearing on the defendant's motion for a new trial, each individual juror was called as a witness and each testified that the outburst in no way affected their judgment. (R. Vol. 3 at 49-157). The majority of the jurors also stated that they did not recall any of the other jurors even mentioning the outburst during deliberations or at any other time. Id. 37 Appellant argues that the question of whether the jurors were influenced by the outburst is irrelevant. Messer cites Collier v. State, 115 Ga. 803, 42 S.E. 226 (1905), and Glenn v. State, 205 Ga. 32, 52 S.E.2d 319 (1949), for the proposition that the test is whether the outburst was calculated to influence the jury in their deliberations. While we agree with appellant that this is the applicable test under Georgia law, we simply do not believe that Wayne Tanner's actions were in any way motivated by a desire to influence the jury. Clearly this outburst, unfortunate as it was, resulted merely from a bereaved father being unable to contain his emotions during a particularly lurid segment of the testimony. 38 We agree with the trial judge, that the outburst was not calculated to influence the jury and that the curative instructions given by the court were sufficient to counter any prejudice which might arguably have ensued. As the jurors themselves repeatedly indicated, they were in no way influenced by the incident. Accordingly, we find no abuse of discretion on the part of the trial court in not granting defendant's motion for a mistrial.