State v. Reed

WILLIAMSON, Chief Justice.

Exceptions to the denial of respondent’s motion for a mistrial are overruled. The respondent was convicted of murder at the May 1965 Term of the Superior Court in Penobscot County.

While the jury was examining a document, a spectator, seated in the courtroom, was observed holding an issue of a Boston daily newspaper fully open on the front page of which were the words “Crime Watchdog Backed by Volpe” in bold type. For a period from three to five minutes the front and back pages were clearly within the view of the jury had they looked, and for our purposes (as for the…