Harper v. People

In People v. Harper, 796 P.2d 4 (Colo. App.1989), the Colorado Court of Appeals *79affirmed the conviction of the defendant, David Joe Harper, for sexual assault on a child. The court of appeals held that the trial court did not abuse its discretion when it denied Harper’s request to poll the jury after the mid-trial publication of a local newspaper article. We granted certiorari to decide whether the reasonable possibility of prejudice test announced in Wiser v. People, 732 P.2d 1139 (Colo.1987), required the trial court to poll the jury to determine whether any jurors had read the article.…