United States v. John C. Herring, A/K/A Scooter

T JO FLAT, Circuit Judge:

This case comes to us on direct appeal from the appellant’s criminal conviction in the United States District Court in Macon, Georgia. The principal issue raised by the appellant concerns the district court’s course of action after the leading local newspaper had exposed the existence of death threats against a key prosecution witness. This exposure, on the last day of trial, created the potential of severely prejudicing the jury deliberations in this case. Because we are of the opinion that the trial court’s response to this publicity was insufficient to protect the…