State v. J.A. Miller

Summary

The court affirmed Miller’s convictions, concluding that the District Court acted within its discretion in permitting uniformed law-enforcement officers to attend trial and that Miller failed to preserve his challenge to the court’s failure to poll the jury. The court declined to resolve Miller’s ineffective-assistance claim on direct appeal because the record permitted legitimate explanations for counsel’s failure to request a curative instruction. Even assuming error in admitting a crime-scene photograph, the court held the error harmless because the photograph was cumulative of other evidence and could not reasonably have contributed to the verdict.