Mistrial declared in Jackie Rolston's trial

ELKHART COUNTY, Ind. -

A mistrial was declared in the case of Jackie Rolston's trial Tuesday morning. The case prompted Kirk's Law.

Rolston was charged with one count of battery resulting in the death of a child.

The child, 19-month-old Kirk Coleman, died at the hospital as a result of blunt force injuries. He had previously been in Rolston's care, according to investigators.

Jury selection in the case was complete by the end of the day Monday and testimony began Tuesday.

Jurors heard testimony from Kirk's grandmother, then there was a 15 minute recess.

When everyone came back to the courtroom is when the judge declared a mistrial.

"It's disappointing for everybody," said Michael Tuszynski, Rolston's attorney.

“Everyone is looking for the closure to move on whatever it may be and unfortunately we don’t have that yet again," said Vicki Becker, Chief Deputy Prosecutor.

The mistrial was declared because of juror misconduct.

“The problem is we had juror misconduct occur and unfortunately one of the jurors had information from an outside source that they had read in the media previously," Becker said.

The parties involved in the trial were told sometime during the day, a juror shared information on Rolston's past charges of neglecting a dependent with other jurors.

That information was not going to be presented as evidence.

“It’s a needless delay but a necessary one now," Tuszynski said.

Because the damage couldn't be undone, the process will have to start over again.

“We will have to go through the entire process jury selection opening statement the first witness we were able to get on everything starts over," said Becker.

The trial has been rescheduled for November 28th.