State v. Herbert

OSTRER, J.A.D.

*693*494Convicted of purposeful murder and related firearms offenses, defendant Olajuwan Herbert principally contends his trial was irremediably tainted by a detective's reference to defendant's alleged gang membership, and by eyewitnesses' statements that they had been afraid to testify or identify themselves. The court sustained defendant's objection to the comment about gang membership, but denied his motion for a mistrial. The court held it cured any resulting prejudice by instructing the jury that there was no information in the case about gang involvement and that the jury…