Opinion ID: 1890464
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: prior bad acts by the defendant.

Text: ¶ 10. The jury, during re-direct of a prosecution witness, heard a statement about a prior bad act allegedly committed by Martin. The decision whether to grant a mistrial lies in the sound discretion of the trial judge. McGilberry, 741 So.2d at 912 (citing Horne v. State, 487 So.2d 213, 214 (Miss.1986)). If a curative instruction cannot remove the prejudicial effect of inadmissible issues placed before a jury, then a mistrial is required. Id. (citing Reynolds v. State, 585 So.2d 753, 755 (Miss.1991)). Considerable discretion is given to the trial judge in determining if a mistrial is warranted because the trial judge is peculiarly situated to determine if a remark is truly prejudicial. Id. (quoting Gossett v. State, 660 So.2d 1285, 1290-91 (Miss.1995)). Thus, the judge is vested with discretion to determine whether the comment is so prejudicial that a mistrial should be declared. Alexander v. State, 602 So.2d 1180, 1182 (Miss.1992) (citing Edmond v. State, 312 So.2d 702, 705 (Miss.1975)). ¶ 11. The statement elicited from the State's witness was unresponsive to the question asked by the prosecution. There is no indication that there was any intent by the prosecution to introduce improper evidence to the jury. Responding to a line of defense questioning referring to the hospitalization and medication of Martin, the prosecutor asked, Mr. Mitchell, when you did have occasion to see Jeremy Martin, did he walk around or talk crazy? The witness responded: No. The only time I seen him act crazy was one day when a friend of mine was over there. And the friend of mine gave him a ride to the store. And they come back and Jeremy done stole a tape out of the boy's car. Which I don't know that he did, I didn't see him do this, but the boy said he did. And he was trying to say something to Jeremy about it. And Jeremy told him I don't want to hear another word, like he was going to come kick the man's ass. And this man is forty-something years old. And I had to calm the man down, I said let him go, just let him keep it if he got it, don't worry about it. Because he would have hurt Jeremy. I mean, I never seen him do nothing other than that. That's the only time I ever heard him say anything. I thought he was wrong. The trial court held the question was proper and found the prejudicial effect of the unresponsive statement did not warrant a mistrial. Where serious and irreparable damage has not occurred, the judge should cure the mistake by admonishing the jury to disregard the impropriety. Id. at 1182-3 (citing Johnson v. State, 477 So.2d 196, 210 (Miss.1985)). This is what occurred in the present case. The jury heard an improper statement, an objection to the statement was sustained, and the judge instructed the jury to disregard the statement since he did not believe irreparable damage had occurred. The refusal to grant a mistrial in these circumstances was well within the trial court's discretion and did not constitute error.