James E. Lyons v. State

James Lyons was convicted of sexual activity, by a person in authority, with a child and sexual activity .with a sixteen or seventeen-year-old child. Lyons raises one issue on appeal: the failure of the trial court to grant a new trial based on juror misconduct. Lyons alleged that during the final morning of a three-day trial, one of the jurors approached and asked him a couple of questions, including “whether or not he did this.”

Lyons failed to mention this alleged misconduct until after his jury reached a verdict and was excused. To preserve this issue for purposes of a motion for new trial…