Pender County Superior Court Judge Ricardo Jensen declared a mistrial Oct. 15 because of jury misconduct in the case of the Lumberton man accused of strangling and killing his 5-year-old niece.
David Prevatte, 27, is charged with first-degree murder and statutory sex offense with a child by an adult in the 2017 death of Paitin Fields. A first-degree statutory rape charge was earlier dismissed by the judge.
The focus in the case swung to the jury on Day 13 of the trial and before the jury was to begin a third day of deliberation.
Juror No. 2 told the court that Juror No. 3 had indicated to them that they did not believe the defendant was a member of the Ku Klux Klan, but believed he was marginalized in the community.
Among the other alleged comments
made by Juror No. 3, according to Juror No. 2, was that the defendant “can’t be racist. His girlfriend is Black and he has a child with her.”
Juror No. 2 told the court that while Juror No. 3 didn't say it, they believe Juror No. 3 "was sympathetic to (the defendant) because he was blackballed by everyone in town and that was probably why he had to move away.”
Judge finds ‘a very big issue’
Jensen said the information conveyed was extraneous information not presented as evidence, in violation of a court order.
“We’ve got a very big issue,” he said.
Each of the 11 other jurors were brought into the Frances Dawson Basden Judicial Annex courtroom in Burgaw, one by one, and questioned before lunch. Nine of them said they heard all or some of the alleged comments. The 11 jurors all said they could remain fair and impartial, disregard those comments and only consider the evidence in delivering a verdict.
In lieu of the event, defense attorney Luther Britt III asked Judge Ricardo Jensen to declare a mistrial.
“I believe the entire jury has been poisoned for lack of a better description,” Britt told the judge.
More jury drama leads to mistrial
At that point, Jensen found the defendant could still have a fair and impartial trial. He said the court is allowed to substitute an alternate juror even though the jury had already begun deliberations.
But more jury drama followed in the afternoon session when Juror No. 7 told the court they heard Juror No. 2 say the defendant had a “rap sheet longer than the table.”
Jurors were once again brought in one by one as the judge conducted another inquiry about extraneous information that wasn’t part of the evidence.
Later, Jensen said Juror No. 4 was not being truthful by denying they had heard any other juror discuss during deliberation the defendant having had interactions with law enforcement before the trial outside of what had been testified or argued at the trial.
“It seems that the more we go into this, there is one layer, than another layer, then another layer,” Britt said. “It’s like an onion.”
The court concluded there were serious improprieties by the jury to prevent a fair and impartial trial.
After declaring the mistrial, Jensen excused the jurors, but asked Jurors 2 and 4 to remain. “The reason for the mistrial is based on you two and No. 3,” he said. Then he excused them.
A mistrial is essentially a judicial do-over, with the jury selection process to start over. An administrative session has been set for Nov. 13.
“I’m elated that these problems were brought out to the court’s attention,” Britt told reporters. “It was one of those things that the more we delved into it, the bigger it gets.”
Bob Liepa is the city of Wilmington and public safety reporter for the StarNews. You can reach him at RLiepa@usatodayco.com.
This article originally appeared on Wilmington StarNews: Mistrial declared in Pender County murder trial
