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Collins v. Hertenstein9/3/2002
ble force. The Supreme Court has held that the MAI and its notes are not binding to the extent they conflict with the substantive law. State v. Carson, 941 S.W.2d 518, 520 (Mo. banc 1997). The officers, however, do not contend that the lack of definition conflicts with Missouri's substantive law. Indeed, the officers recognize that the decision to submit the definition was within the circuit court's discretion. The officers' contention is without merit. The officers next aver four errors concerning the jury panel. Two of the alleged errors concern the circuit court's refusing to strike certain venire persons for cause. One of the alleged errors concerns the circuit court's granting Collins' motion to strike a certain venire person for cause. The last alleged error concerns the circuit court's failure to grant a mistrial after a juror admitted that she had watched television news coverage of the trial during the trial. Again, we note, "Multiple contentions not related to a single issue may not be grouped together in a single point relied." In the Interest of A.H., 963 S.W.2d at 379. We do not condone the officers' violation of this standard. Moreover, in their argument the officers again do not provide page references to the transcript where the alleged errors occurred or where the circuit court made the allegedly erroneous rulings.
The officers, therefore, have not preserved these contentions, and we review for plain error only. We do not discern plain error with any of the officers' contentions. They contend that the circuit court erred when it would not strike for cause venire persons who had previously had bad experiences with the police and a venire person who had formed an opinion that the actions of the officers were inappropriate. They also contend that the circuit court erred in striking a venire person for cause because she had worked for a police agency in a civilian capacity and because her roommate was attending the police academy. The circuit court, however, is vested with broad discretion in determining the prospective jurors' qualifications, and we will not disturb the circuit court's ruling on a challenge for cause unless we discern that it abused its discretion.
Henderson, 68 S.W.3d at 475. "Because the [circuit] court is in a superior position to determine a venireperson's ability to impartially follow the law, any doubts as to its findings will be resolved in its favor." Sheffler v. Arana, 950 S.W.2d 259, 266 (Mo. App. 1997). The officers also claim that the circuit court erred when it failed to grant their motion for mistrial after a juror indicated that she had watched television news coverage of the trial. "A motion for new trial, based on a juror's acquisition of extraneous evidence, is left to the sound discretion of the [circuit] court." Travis v. Stone, 66 S.W.3d 1, 3 (Mo. banc 2002). Moreover, "it is generally not an abuse of discretion to deny a motion for new trial where the juror did not obtain any 'new, different or conflicting evidence'[.]" Id. at 5.
The juror in this case told the circuit court that she did not see anything on the news report that was different from what she had seen in the courtroom and that nothing she saw would interfere with her ability to render a decision based solely upon the evidence and the instructions in the case. We do not discern plain error. The officers next assert that the circuit court erred in refusing to allow Maria Gallegos' testimony that Collins attempted to bribe her to procure false testimony from Gallegos' daughter. The officers claim that the evidence of the bribe tended to establish that Collins' case was weak and that the probative value of the testimony outweighed any prejudice. We disagree. According to th
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