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KENYON v. STATE6/4/1997
996). A trial court should only resort to mistrial when there "has been an error so prejudicial that justice cannot be served by continuing the trial." Id. at 204, 926 S.W.2d at 837. The determination of whether to grant a motion for mistrial is a matter within the trial court's sound discretion, and a denial of a motion for mistrial will not be reversed absent an abuse of that discretion. Johnson, supra. In the present case, it has not been demonstrated that the jury saw the badges being worn by some spectators or, if they did, that this affected their ability to be fair jurors. Also, it is not clear that the jury members, if they saw that some people were wearing badges, could tell what was on them. Appellant did not question the
panel with regard to whether they saw the buttons and could tell what they were and whether this would influence their ability to sit fairly on the jury. Appellant has not demonstrated prejudice, as is necessary in order for this court to reverse, Berna v. State, 282 Ark. 563, 670 S.W.2d 434 (1984), cert. denied 470 U.S. 1985 (1985), and has failed to demonstrate that the trial court abused its discretion in denying his motion for mistrial.
Affirmed.
ROGERS and STROUD, JJ., agree.
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