Court Opinion

ID: 9483973
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 09:37:06.07063+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:49:56.920709
License: Public Domain

*486BOWMAN, Circuit Judge,
dissenting.
The ruling of a trial court on a motion for mistrial is subject to a deferential standard of review. United States v. Huff, 959 F.2d 731, 735 (8th Cir.), cert. denied, — U.S. -, 113 S.Ct. 162, 121 L.Ed.2d 110 (1992). Such rulings are within the broad discretion of the trial court, and we will reverse the trial court only where an abuse of that discretion is shown. United States v. Culver, 929 F.2d 389, 391 (8th Cir.1991).
Here, the trial court rebuked counsel for dropping the computer printout in front of the jury, and the offending conduct was not repeated. The jury was entitled to weigh plaintiffs prior convictions in assessing his credibility, and aside from anything improperly communicated to the jury about plaintiffs prior arrests, the jury knew by his own admission that he had not led a saintly life. The trial court was in a far better position than we are to make a well-informed judgment as to whether misconduct by the defendants’ counsel had unfairly prejudiced the jury’s attitude toward the plaintiff. The finding that it had not comes to us from an experienced and respected trial judge, and I see no compelling reason for this Court to disturb that finding.
It is all too easy for this Court, working from a cold record and applying broad principles of trial practice, to assign to events occurring during the course of trial a significance they did not actually have. That is precisely why a reviewing court should give broad deference to the ruling made by the trial court in matters of this sort. As I am unable to conclude that the trial court abused its discretion in denying plaintiff’s motion for a mistrial, I would affirm the judgment entered on the jury verdict.