Page:BERRY V. STATE.pdf/14

Rh surrounding this trial was not unusual for a murder case, and, while the majority of the prospective jurors stated during voir dire that they had read or heard some reports concerning the case, only four prospective jurors were excused because they said they had formed a definite opinion as to the appellant's guilt. All the jurors selected either had heard nothing regarding the case or said they could set aside anything they had heard and decide the case on the evidence. It is not necessary that the jurors be totally ignorant of the facts surrounding the case, as long as they can set aside any impression they have formed and render a verdict solely on the evidence at trial. Swindler v. State, 267 Ark. 418, 592 S.W.2d 91 (1979).

For these reasons, venue was properly maintained in Miller County.

Reversed and remanded.

H and N, JJ., dissent.

D H, Justice, dissenting. In reviewing records of brutal and senseless murders, we have numerous times seen photographs as gruesome as these. The state had a right to prove its case and to recreate for the jury the last few desperate and horror-filled moments of a defenseless old lady being brutally bludgeoned to death by Berry's boyfriend. Furthermore, the evidence is viewed in the light most favorable to the state, not most favorable to the defendant as the majority has done. Dix v. State, 290 Ark. 28, 715 S.W.2d 879 (1986). The record reflects that Berry chose the victim, conspired in the killing and was present at the murder scene at the time of the murder. We do not know if she used the crow bar. She may have helped. We do know that she could have stepped into stop the blows which were repeatedly struck to kill her great aunt. The boyfriend said the first blow did not knock her out so he kept hitting her until he (Mills) blacked out. No doubt his blackout was a psychological block to save his mind from reliving his dark deed. But relive it he should, and relive it Berry should.

Berry did not want to see nor the jury to see what she had wrought. The photographs demonstrate the brutal repeated use of the weapon—a crow bar. The assailant, or assailants, would not stop beating the woman; repeatedly she was struck about the