Missouri Court of Appeals, Southern District / Dec 10, 2019
STATE OF MISSOURI, Plaintiff-Respondent v. JOHN ANDREW CALAHAN, Defendant-Appellant
John Andrew Calahan appealed his convictions for assault in the second degree and armed criminal action, arguing the trial court plainly erred by denying his motion for a mistrial after the jury initially returned ambiguous verdicts. Calahan contended the remedies applied by the trial court were insufficient to protect his due process right to a fair trial. The appellate court declined plain-error review, finding Calahan failed to demonstrate that the trial court's actions resulted in a manifest injustice or miscarriage of justice, and affirmed the convictions.