Opinion ID: 2452276
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: Motion for mistrialjuror contact with victim's family

Text: Griffin further alleges that the trial court erred in denying his motion for mistrial on the basis of improper contact during the trial between jurors and members of the victim's family. During a recess at trial, juror Clayton and alternate juror Marconi were seen in a lounge where members of Mr. Wynne's family were drinking coffee and talking. Griffin made a motion for mistrial claiming improper contact. The trial court denied the motion, and admonished the jury not to have contact with any of the parties, witnesses, or attorneys. The trial court asked the jurors if any of them had had a conversation with members of the victim's family or any other witnesses and none responded in the affirmative. At the close of all the evidence, the trial court held a hearing relating to Griffin's motion. Alternate juror Marconi testified that she and juror Clayton had discussed speech therapy in the attorney's lounge while getting coffee. She denied having had any conversation with members of Mr. Wynne's family, stating that she did not notice whether they were in the same room. Bailiff Boswell also testified at the hearing, stating that the jurors spoke with one another in the lounge and did not talk to any witnesses. In Hutcherson v. State, 262 Ark. 535, 558 S.W.2d 156 (1977), the appellant moved for a mistrial after it was learned that the father of a murdered policeman had talked to one or more members of the jury during a recess. The trial court called the father to the witness stand, and was satisfied by his answers that nothing had been said which would prejudice a juror. We found no abuse of discretion in the trial court's decision to deny the motion for mistrial, holding that such a meeting alone was not prejudicial error. As we stated in Dillard v. State, 313 Ark. 439, 855 S.W.2d 909 (1993), it is Griffin's burden to demonstrate that a reasonable possibility of prejudice resulted from the contact. On the facts before us, it cannot be said that the trial court erred in denying Griffin's motion for mistrial.