Mistrial declared in Dallas murder case

From the Dallas Morning News, something for this week's look at the Texas judiciary and the criminal justice system:

Dallas County murder case ended in a mistrial Tuesday after the ex-girlfriend of a defendant accosted jurors in their deliberation room and showed them a picture of their 10-year-old son.

The woman held up the photo on her cellphone and told jurors that she wanted them to think about the boy as they heard the case, attorneys involved in the case said.

The breach brought questions about courthouse security and finger-pointing about which county department was responsible.

A spokeswoman for Dallas County Sheriff Lupe Valdez said that court bailiffs, who work for the sheriff, were not at fault. The spokeswoman, Carmen Castro, said that the state district clerk’s office is responsible for that area — not the sheriff.

Castro said the Sheriff’s Department “had our areas covered.” Castro said because the security issue was not the concern of the sheriff’s office, she did not have many details about what happened.

Dallas County District Clerk Gary Fitzsimmons laughed at the idea his clerks were responsible for security.

“The jury room is under the control of the bailiffs. I can’t get in there, theoretically,” Fitzsimmons said. “It’s not part of my domain.”

Testimony had not yet begun in the case in which Robert Earl Oliver is accused of stabbing his friend Eric Franklin to death in October 2011. Franklin was stabbed in the neck with a butcher knife and nearly decapitated.

State District Judge Fred Tinsley, who questioned jurors and then declared the mistrial at the state’s request, could not be reached for comment.