Opinion ID: 1742814
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 8

Heading: Testimony Regarding Defendant's Incarceration for Drug Offense.

Text: The defendant assigns as error the trial court's refusal to grant a mistrial after the defendant's jail mate, Eric Pasket, testified to the defendant's incarceration on drug charges. When Pasket was asked, What did [Newell] say he was in there for? Pasket responded, He was in there for drug charges and murder charge. The defendant's attorney did not immediately object, not wanting to call attention to this testimony. At the next break and outside the presence of the jury, trial counsel requested a mistrial. The court denied the defendant's request, and pursuant to the defendant's wishes, did not admonish the jury to disregard the witness's statement. The defendant claims the court erred in failing to grant a mistrial due to the prejudicial nature of the testimony. We review the court's ruling for an abuse of discretion. See Piper, 663 N.W.2d at 901. A mistrial is appropriate when `an impartial verdict cannot be reached' or the verdict `would have to be reversed on appeal due to an obvious procedural error in the trial.' Id. at 902. The pertinent question here is whether the trial court was clearly unreasonable in concluding an impartial verdict could be reached notwithstanding the witness's testimony that Newell said he was in jail on drug charges. We do not think the court's exercise of its discretion was clearly unreasonable. The reference to drug charges occurred only once, and there were no questions that elaborated on this information. See State v. Anderson, 448 N.W.2d 32, 34 (Iowa 1989) (It is of significance that the incident was isolated.). In addition, the court gave a general instruction to the jury admonishing the jurors not to consider evidence concerning other wrongful acts alleged to have been committed by Newell. See State v. McMullin, 421 N.W.2d 517, 520 (Iowa 1988) (stating jurors are presumed to have followed the court's instructions absent evidence to the contrary). Finally, the evidence against the defendant was strong. See State v. Greene, 592 N.W.2d 24, 32 (Iowa 1999) (considering strength of evidence in concluding no prejudice warranting a mistrial); Anderson, 448 N.W.2d at 34 (same). When the solitary reference to drug charges is considered in the context of the entire trial and all the properly admitted evidence, we think the trial court reasonably concluded this comment did not prevent the defendant from receiving a fair trial with impartial jurors.