State v. Town, 163 N.H. 790

Defendant William K. Town was convicted by jury of aggravated felonious sexual assault occurring between 1990 and 1992 under RSA 632-A:2 (1986).
Appeal argues trial court erred in excluding a juror (Juror 67) and admitting a victim’s testimony about statements Town allegedly made; and in denying a mistrial motion and in giving a deadlock jury instruction after a split verdict history.
The trial court conducted individual voir dire of Juror 67 after she disclosed being molested at 14; juror indicated she would “try” to be fair but was uncertain.
Defense sought additional peremptory challenges; court denied the requests and treated the issue as a challenge for cause.
Court found Juror 67 was not sufficiently impartial under state constitutional standard, reversing on that issue and remanding; other issues are not addressed on the current record.
Court declined to consider the remaining arguments as unlikely to arise on remand, following the reversal on the juror issue.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether Juror 67 could be impartial	Town contends Juror 67 was not impartial due to prior abuse and stated uncertainty.	Town argues juror’s partiality could taint verdict.	Juror not impartial; trial court abused discretion; reversal on this issue.
Admissibility of 1993 statement by Town	Town argues the statement was irrelevant and prejudicial.	State argues statement was an admission and probative.	Statement deemed relevant and its probative value not substantially outweighed by prejudice; admission upheld.
Mistrial/Deadlock instruction on uncharged acts	Town claims mistrial should have been granted; improper deadlock instruction given after split jury.	State contends issues not preserved for review or resolved differently.	Court declines to address remaining issues on remand; focus remains on juror impartiality finding.

State v. Ball, 124 N.H. 226 (1983) (constitutional impartiality of juror; preservation standards)
State v. Addison, 161 N.H. 300 (2010) (impartial juror standard; laying aside opinions)
State v. Weir, 138 N.H. 671 (1994) (juror impartiality; evaluating voir dire on appeal)
State v. Dowdle, 148 N.H. 345 (2002) (preservation of issues; trial court opportunity to correct error)
State v. Laaman, 114 N.H. 794 (1974) (review of voir dire for impartial juror after court ruling)