Opinion ID: 409134
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: Mistrial Request

Text: 36 Defendants Weed and the Wilketts assert that a mistrial was required once Dr. Thomas Conklin and pharmacist Joe Hoover were severed from the case. Defendants maintain they sustained substantial prejudice through the spillover effect of Agent Steve Beck's hearsay testimony relating to Conklin and Hoover. 37 Beck's testimony can be divided into two categories. His statements directed to the actions of Conklin and Hoover in his presence were clearly admissible and unaffected by the subsequent severance. See Andrews, 585 F.2d at 965. Beck's testimony as to the remarks of Conklin and Hoover, however, constituted hearsay rendered inadmissible by the severance. 38 Whether a motion for mistrial should be granted is within the discretion of the trial judge because he is in the best position to evaluate the effect of the offending evidence on the jury. United States v. Laymon, 621 F.2d 1051, 1053 (10th Cir. 1980). We have reviewed the entire record and conclude that the trial court did not abuse its discretion in denying the mistrial motion. Significantly, neither Fred Weed nor James M. Wilkett were mentioned in the Conklin-Hoover statements testified to by Beck. James D. Wilkett was identified by agent Beck as the recipient of the Conklin-Hoover Dilaudid largesse. This problem was vitiated substantially, however, by James D. Wilkett's ultimate admission that he received the drugs, although he denied selling them to Powell and Behrens. 39 As we have shown above, there is ample evidence independent of the Conklin-Hoover hearsay to establish beyond a reasonable doubt the source of the Dilaudid and its illegal sale. Under these circumstances, and in view of the trial court's instruction to the jury to disregard the inadmissible hearsay, the motion for mistrial was properly denied.