California, United States of America
The following excerpt is from People v. Enciso, F064244 (Cal. App. 2013):
We review the denial of a motion for mistrial under the deferential abuse of discretion standard. (People v. Cunningham, supra, 25 Cal.4th at p. 984.) "A motion for mistrial is directed to the sound discretion of the trial court. We have explained that '[a] mistrial should be granted if the court is apprised of prejudice that it judges incurable by admonition or instruction. [Citation.] Whether a particular incident is incurably prejudicial is by its nature a speculative matter, and the trial court is vested with considerable discretion in ruling on mistrial motions.'" (People v. Jenkins (2000) 22 Cal.4th 900, 985-986, quoting People v. Haskett (1982) 30 Cal.3d 841, 854.)
Defense counsel moved for a mistrial following his belated objection to the prosecutor's questions regarding defendant's demeanor:
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Later, the court stated, "[s]o the motion for mistrial is denied."
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