BURGAW, N.C. (Court TV) — A judge declared a mistrial for a man charged with killing and sexually assaulting his 5-year-old niece after finding three jurors disobeyed instructions and tainted the rest of the panel.
David Prevatte sits in court on Oct. 15, 2026. (Court TV)
Twelve jurors began deliberating David Prevatte’s fate Tuesday. Prevatte, 27, has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder and statutory sexual offense with a child by an adult in the death of his niece, Paitin Fields. Paitin died after her family found her on the couch in their home having a seizure and rushed her to the hospital. At the hospital, doctors said they immediately noticed signs that she had been strangled and evidence that she had been sexually assaulted.
Deliberations stopped Thursday morning when Juror No. 2 reported to a bailiff that Juror No. 3 had been making comments to others on the panel that the defendant is not a member of the KKK and had been marginalized in his community. The KKK was never mentioned during the course of the trial.
Judge Ricardo Jensen called each juror in, one by one, and questioned them about statements they heard. The jurors corroborated Juror No. 2’s account and added that Juror No. 3 also said, “I know things about this [case], but I can’t say,” and told fellow jurors that the defendant couldn’t be racist because he has a Black girlfriend with whom he shares a child.
Prosecutor Jason Smith asked Jensen to remove Juror No. 3 from the panel. “I believe she was not forthright with her questionnaire, or if she was forthright with the questionnaire, she was disobeying your order about looking beyond the evidence presented in the case because she has information that we don’t even, I don’t even have this information on.” Smith specified he had no information about Prevatte’s girlfriend’s race.
But the problem widened when Jensen called Juror No. 3 back into the courtroom. As she was being discharged from the case, she told the judge that Juror No. 2 had been making comments about evidence not shown to the jury, including referencing the defendant’s “rap sheet longer than the table.” Juror No. 7 further complicated matters by telling a bailiff that Juror No. 3 had stopped Juror No. 2 from discussing inappropriate information.
Jensen again brought each juror in individually and questioned them about what they had said and heard. When Juror No. 9 came in, the juror said they hadn’t heard anything from Juror No. 2, but said that Juror No. 4 made comments about the defendant being “known” to police and that “he’s been around.” After Jensen brought Juror No. 4 back in to answer questions about the alleged comment, he found, “Clearly Juror No. 4 was not telling the truth.”
“It seems that the more we go into this, we have one layer, another layer, another layer, so we’re going to end up, it’s like we’re trying to peel an onion,” Prevatte’s attorney, Luther Johnson Britt III, said as he urged the judge to declare a mistrial.
“At the outset of today, we had a report from one of the jurors that seems to have opened Pandora’s box,” Jensen said, recognizing that at least seven jurors needed to be stricken from the panel. “There aren’t enough alternates to substitute in for those jurors who may be tainted.”
After the jury was brought back in and then dismissed, Jurors 2 and 4 were asked to stay behind. “The reason for the mistrial is based on misconduct by you,” Jensen told them. “This is not a discussion, but an admonition.”
Although he found that the jurors had not obeyed his instructions, Jensen said he would not find them in contempt of court.
The mistrial means Prevatte now faces a second trial on the charges; Jensen scheduled him to return to court on Nov. 13 for a pretrial hearing.
