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| Michigan Prison Sex Case a Mistrial |
| By Battle Creek Enquirer |
| Published: 07/30/2003 |
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The six-day criminal sexual conduct trial of Steven Davis ended last week when Judge Michael Cherry declared a mistrial. 'It was one of the most difficult decisions I've made in my 19 years as the Branch County Circuit Court judge because of the time given by the jury and those preparing the trial,' Cherry said. Cherry declared the mistrial after a slide was inadvertently shown to the jury that pertained to information that Cherry previously had barred from the trial. Reactions to Cherry's decision were mixed. A witness, who still was in the courtroom, hung her head over the seat in front of her and sobbed. The prosecutor, Steven McLaughlin, sat in a fixed state holding his head with his hands. He gave no comment when asked for his reactions. The defendant left the courtroom and later expressed feelings of anger and frustration. McLaughlin said he'll file a motion for another trial. Cherry's decision was made after closing arguments were completed for the case and the court had adjourned for a short recess. While the court was in recess, the attorney for the defense, J. R. Colbeck, brought the court's attention to a slide that was shown on a screen for the jury as part of the prosecutor's presentation and closing remarks. The slide contained written comments about the physical descriptions given by the witnesses of Davis' genitalia. The comments were based on interviews taken during the investigation of Davis three years ago. All physical description of Davis' genitalia had been barred from the courtroom by the judge. Throughout his closing remarks, McLaughlin, special prosecutor for the case, focused on the strength of the consistency of the testimony of the six inmate witnesses in the case. To illustrate his points he used a slide presentation projected from his laptop computer. The slide presentation was prepared before trial. During the presentation, he picked up papers next to the laptop mouse and moved to the exhibit table. The slide appeared on the screen, presumably because the mouse was bumped. It was there until he turned around, returned to his table and turned off the laptop. But the damage was done. The slide was within full view of the jury for 5 1/2 minutes. Later when questioned by Cherry, the majority of the members of the jury recalled seeing the slide and its contents. McLaughlin said he didn't know how to delete the single slide without deleting the whole presentation. Cherry said short of having 12 lobotomies (surgery to remove the slide from the memory of jurors) there was no way to proceed with the trial. Davis was charged with exposing his genitalia to women inmates while working as a quartermaster at the Lakeland Correctional Facility. Four of the inmates said he coerced them into having oral sex with him. The decision for mistrial came after a morning of building suspense in the trial generated by the closing remarks of the prosecution and defense. Colbeck saw the consistency of the witnesses' testimony as a weakness. He questioned the credibility of the witnesses and suggested they may have discussed their testimony with one another. |
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