Abdul Hakim Grant v. Commonwealth of Virginia, 1473151

Early morning Aug. 23, 2014, Lacontis Murphy reported seeing Abdul Hakim Grant shoot a small black firearm in her apartment parking lot; police recovered eight shell casings and a hole in a car window.
Sgt. Todd Lyons testified about the scene; on cross-exam Grant asked whether the window hole was recent and Lyons replied the vehicle owner told him it wasn’t there before. Grant immediately objected to hearsay.
Despite the objection, Grant continued cross-examining Lyons, allowed Commonwealth redirect about the hole, and recross-examined Lyons; only after these additional examinations did Grant move for a mistrial based on Lyons’s hearsay testimony.
The trial court denied the mistrial motion, concluding Grant had opened the door to testimony about the hole and later gave a curative instruction directing the jury to disregard the owner’s statement.
The jury convicted Grant of possession of a firearm by a felon, reckless handling of a firearm, and discharge of a firearm in a public place; Grant appealed arguing the court erred in denying his mistrial motion for the hearsay testimony.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument (Grant)	Defendant's Argument (Commonwealth)	Held
Whether the trial court erred by denying a mistrial after hearsay testimony from the vehicle owner was elicited through Sgt. Lyons	The hearsay injected by Lyons prejudiced the jury and the curative instruction was insufficient; mistrial required	Grant waived the issue by failing to move for a mistrial when the hearsay was first elicited and he opened the door by questioning about the hole	Denied; appellate review waived because Grant’s mistrial motion was untimely and he allowed further examination before moving for mistrial

Riner v. Commonwealth, 268 Va. 296 (review principle: state facts in light most favorable to Commonwealth)
Blanton v. Commonwealth, 280 Va. 447 (trial court discretion on mistrial; reversal only for manifest probability of prejudice)
Bennett v. Commonwealth, 29 Va. App. 261 (standard for prejudice from improper evidence)
Mills v. Commonwealth, 24 Va. App. 415 (same)
Lewis v. Commonwealth, 211 Va. 80 (timely mistrial motion requirement)
Yeatts v. Commonwealth, 242 Va. 121 (defendant must timely move for mistrial or waive objection)
Reid v. Baumgardner, 217 Va. 769 (motion must be made when objectionable words are spoken)
Tizon v. Commonwealth, 60 Va. App. 1 (motion for mistrial must be made at the time objectionable element is injected)
McBride v. Commonwealth, 44 Va. App. 526 (invited-error principle)
Findlay v. Commonwealth, 287 Va. 111 (litigants must identify error with specificity)