State v. Loyal

*421The opinion of the court was delivered by

STEIN, J.

This appeal requires us to determine whether it is an abuse of discretion for a trial court in a murder trial to declare a mistrial after discovering that defendant’s counsel previously represented a significant State witness. We hold that in the context of this prosecution for a drug-related homicide and other offenses defense counsel’s recent representation on drug charges of a material, recanting State’s witness constituted an appearance of impropriety that justified the trial court’s declaration of a mistrial. In the absence of prejudice…