The Connecticut Supreme Court has upheld a robbery conviction against a man who called for a mistrial because his mother told a juror outside court that a police officer had lied on the stand.
Justices issued a 7-0 ruling on Tuesday affirming the conviction against Orlando Berrios Jr., saying the state proved his mother's actions didn't affect the jury's impartiality.
Berrios is serving a 15-year prison sentence for robbing a man in New Haven of cash and other valuables in December 2011.
His appeal centered on separate U.S. Supreme Court rulings over whether there's a presumption of prejudice in jury tampering cases that imposes a heavy burden on prosecutors to prove a jury's impartiality was unaffected.
Such rulings have divided state and federal courts for more than 30 years.
