Source: https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/424/600
Timestamp: 2019-04-22 06:34:35+00:00

Document:
(a) Though this Court has held that whether there can be a new trial after a mistrial has been declared without the defendant's request depends on whether "there is a manifest necessity for the (mistrial), or the ends of public justice would otherwise be defeated," United States v. Perez, 9 Wheat. 579, 580, 6 L.Ed. 165, different considerations obtain when the mistrial has been declared at the instance of the defendant, whose request for a mistrial ordinarily removes any barrier to reprosecution even if necessitated by prosecutorial or judicial error. Pp. 606-618.
(b) The Court of Appeals erred in holding that the manifest-necessity standard should be applied to a mistrial motion when the defendant has "no choice" but to request a mistrial. Though the Double Jeopardy Clause bars retrials where "bad-faith conduct by judge or prosecutor," United States v. Jorn, 400 U.S. 470, 485, 91 S.Ct. 547, 557, 27 L.Ed.2d 543, 556 (plurality opinion), threatens the "(h)arassment of an accused by successive prosecutions or declaration of a mistrial so as to afford the prosecution a more favorable opportunity to convict" the defendant, Downum v. States, 372 U.S. 734, 736, 83 S.Ct. 1033, 1034, 10 L.Ed.2d 100, here there is no contention or record showing that the trial judge's expulsion of Wagner was in bad faith to goad respondent into requesting a mistrial or to prejudice his acquittal prospects. Pp. 608-611.
John P. Rupp, Washington, D. C., for petitioner.
Fletcher N. Baldwin, Jr., Gainesville, Fla., for respondent.
"Mr. Reed (Asst. U. S. Attorney): Your Honor, we object to personal opinions.
'The Court: Objection sustained. The purpose of the opening statement is to summarize the facts the evidence will show, state the issues, not to give personal opinions. Proceed, Mr. Wagner.
The judge then asked Meldon if he was prepared to proceed with the trial. 3 Upon learning that Meldon had not discussed the case with the witnesses, the judge gave Meldon until 9 o'clock the following morning to prepare. Meldon informed the judge that the respondent was "in a quandary because he hired Mr. Wagner to argue the case and he feels he needs more time to obtain outside counsel to argue the case for him. The judge responded that "(y)ou are his counsel and have been" but stated that he would consider the matter "between now and 9:00 o'clock tomorrow morning." Id., at 35.
The next morning, Meldon told the judge that the respondent wanted Wagner and not himself or Baldwin to try the case. The judge then set forth three alternative courses that might be followed (1) a stay or recess pending application to the Court of Appeals to review the propriety of expelling Wagner, (2) continuation of the trial with Meldon and Baldwin as counsel, or (3) a declaration of a mistrial which would permit the respondent to obtain other counsel. Following a short recess, Meldon moved for a mistrial, stating that, after "full consideration of the situation and an explanation of the alternatives before him, (the respondent) feels that he would move for a mistrial and that this would be in his best interest." Id., at 41. The Government prosecutor did not oppose the motion. The judge thereupon declared a mistrial, expressing his belief that such a course would serve the interest of justice.
Before his second trial, the respondent moved to dismiss the indictment on the ground that a retrial would violate the Double Jeopardy Clause of the Constitution. This motion was denied. The respondent represented himself at the new trial, and he was convicted by the jury on both the conspiracy and distribution counts. 4 A divided panel of the Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit reversed the conviction, holding that the retrial violated the respondent's constitutional right not to be twice put in jeopardy. 5 492 F.2d 53. The appellate court took the view that the trial judge's exclusion of Wagner and his questioning of Meldon had left the respondent no choice but to move for a mistrial. Id., at 59. On that basis, the court concluded that the respondent's request for a mistrial should be ignored and the case should be treated as though the trial judge had declared a mistrial over the objection of the defendant. Ibid. So viewing the case, the court held that the Double Jeopardy Clause barred the second trial of the respondent, because there had been no manifest necessity requiring the expulsion of Wagner. 6 The Court of Appeals granted rehearing en banc and, by a vote of 8-7, affirmed the decision of the panel. 7 504 F.2d 854. We granted certiorari to consider the constitutional question thus presented. 420 U.S. 1003, 95 S.Ct. 1445, 43 L.Ed.2d 761.
The Double Jeopardy Clause of the Fifth Amendment protects a defendant in a criminal proceeding against multiple punishments or repeated prosecutions for the same offense. 8 See United States v. Wilson, 420 U.S. 332, 343, 95 S.Ct. 1013, 1021, 43 L.Ed.2d 232, 241; North Carolina v. Pearce, 395 U.S. 711, 717, 89 S.Ct. 2072, 2076, 23 L.Ed.2d 656, 664. Underlying this constitutional safeguard is the belief that "the State with all its resources and power should not be allowed to make repeated attempts to convict an individual for an alleged offense, thereby subjecting him to embarrassment, expense and ordeal and compelling him to live in a continuing state of anxiety and insecurity, as well as enhancing the possibility that even though innocent he may be found guilty." Green v. United States, 355 U.S. 184, 187-188, 78 S.Ct. 221, 223, 2 L.Ed.2d 199, 204. Where, as here, a mistrial has been declared, the defendant's "valued right to have his trial completed by a particular tribunal" is also implicated. Wade v. Hunter, 336 U.S. 684, 689, 69 S.Ct. 834, 837, 93 L.Ed. 974, 978; United States v. Jorn, 400 U.S. 470, 484-485, 91 S.Ct. 547, 556-557, 27 L.Ed.2d 543, 556 (plurality opinion); Downum v. United States, 372 U.S. 734, 736, 83 S.Ct. 1033, 1034, 10 L.Ed.2d 100, 102.
"If that right to go to a particular tribunal is valued, it is because, independent of the threat of bad-faith conduct by judge or prosecutor, the defendant has a significant interest in the decision whether or not to take the case from the jury when circumstances occur which might be thought to warrant a declaration of mistrial. Thus, where circumstances develop not attributable to prosecutorial or judicial overreaching, a motion by the defendant for mistrial is ordinarily assumed to remove any barrier to reprosecution, even if the defendant's motion is necessitated by prosecutorial or judicial error. In the absence of such a motion, the Perez doctrine of manifest necessity stands as a command to trial judges not to foreclose the defendant's option until a scrupulous exercise of judicial discretion leads to the conclusion that the ends of public justice would not be served by a continuation of the proceedings.
See United States v. Perez, 9 Wheat., at 580, 6 L.Ed. at 166." 400 U.S., at 485, 91 S.Ct. at 557, 27 L.Ed.2d at 556 (footnote omitted).
The distinction between mistrials declared by the court Sua sponte and mistrials granted at the defendant's request or with his consent is wholly consistent with the protections of the Double Jeopardy Clause. Even when judicial or prosecutorial error prejudices a defendant's prospects of securing an acquittal, he may nonetheless desire "to go to the first jury and, perhaps, end the dispute then and there with an acquittal." United States v. Jorn, supra, at 484, 91 S.Ct. at 557, 27 L.Ed.2d at 556. Our prior decisions recognize the defendant's right to pursue this course in the absence of circumstances of manifest necessity requiring a sua sponte judicial declaration of mistrial. But it is evident that when judicial or prosecutorial error seriously prejudices a defendant, he may have little interest in completing the trial and obtaining a verdict from the first jury. The defendant may reasonably conclude that a continuation of the tainted proceeding would result in a conviction followed by a lengthy appeal and, if a reversal is secured, by a second prosecution. In such circumstances, a defendant's mistrial request has objectives not unlike the interests served by the Double Jeopardy Clause the avoidance of the anxiety, expense, and delay occasioned by multiple prosecutions.
The Double Jeopardy Clause does protect a defendant against governmental actions intended to provoke mistrial requests and thereby to subject defendants to the substantial burdens imposed by multiple prosecutions. It bars retrials where "bad-faith conduct by judge or prosecutor," United States v. Jorn, supra, 400 U.S., at 485, 91 S.Ct., at 557, threatens the "(h)arassment of an accused by successive prosecutions or declaration of a mistrial so as to afford the prosecution a more favorable opportunity to convict" the defendant. Downum v. United States, 372 U.S. at 736, 83 S.Ct., at 1034, 10 L.Ed.2d, at 102. See Gori v. United States, 367 U.S., at 369, 81 S.Ct., at 1526, 6 L.Ed.2d 905; United States v. Jorn, supra, 400 U.S., at 489, 91 S.Ct. at 559, 27 L.Ed.2d at 558 (Stewart, J., dissenting); cf. Wade v. Hunter, 336 U.S. at 692, 69 S.Ct., at 838, 93 L.Ed., at 979.
Under these circumstances we hold that the Court of Appeals erred in finding that the retrial violated the respondent's constitutional right not to be twice put in jeopardy. Accordingly, the judgment before us is reversed, and the case is remanded to the Court of Appeals for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.
The Court's premise is that the mistrial was directed at respondent's request or with his consent. I agree with the Court of Appeals that, for purposes of double jeopardy analysis, it was not, but rather that "the trial judge's response to the conduct of defense counsel deprived Dinitz's motion for a mistrial of its necessary consensual character." 492 F.2d 53, 59 n. 9 (1974). Therefore the rule that "a motion by the defendant for mistrial is ordinarily assumed to remove any barrier to reprosecution," United States v. Jorn, 400 U.S. 470, 485, 91 S.Ct. 547, 27 L.Ed.2d 543 (1971) (plurality opinion), is inapplicable. Accordingly, I agree that respondent's motion, for the reasons expressed in the panel and en banc opinions of the Court of Appeals, did not remove the bar of double jeopardy to reprosecution in "the extraordinary circumstances of the present case, in which judicial error alone, rather than (respondent's) exercise of any option to stop or go forward, took away his 'valued right to have his trial completed by a particular tribunal.' " 504 F.2d 854-855 (1974). I also agree with the holding in the panel opinion that "(i)n view of . . . (the) alternatives which would not affect the ability to continue the trial, we cannot say that there was manifest necessity for the trial judge's actions." 492 F.2d, at 61. I would affirm.
Shortly after the arrest of the respondent, someone had telephoned him and said that for $2,000 he would make sure that the case never came to court. The respondent and FBI agents set up a trap to catch the caller, but the unidentified man got away with the "bait envelope."
After the judge excluded Wagner, he examined Meldon about his role in the preparation of the opening statement. Meldon responded that he had conveyed information about the extortion attempt to Wagner but had not represented that Cox was involved and had not worked with Wagner on the opening statement.
The Court of Appeals dealt only with the respondent's double jeopardy claim and did not reach any of his other claims of error. 492 F.2d 53, at 54.
The Court of Appeals held that the trial judge failed to consider adequate alternatives available to deal with Wagner's conduct. Among the alternatives the court suggested were a warning that he would be cited for contempt if the practices continued, an actual citation for contempt, filing of a complaint with the grievance committee of the state bar, and taking action to prevent him from practicing again in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Florida. Id., at 60-61.
The court's en banc Per curiam opinion employed reasoning similar to that of the panel majority. See n. 10, Infra.
The Double Jeopardy Clause of the Fifth Amendment was held to be applicable to the States through the Fourteenth Amendment in Benton v. Maryland, 395 U.S. 784, 89 S.Ct. 2056, 23 L.Ed.2d 707.
"In order for a defendant's motion for a mistrial to constitute a bar to a later plea of double jeopardy, some choice to proceed or start over must remain with the defendant at the time his motion is made. The dicta from United States v. Jorn . . . does not encompass the extraordinary circumstances of the present case, in which judicial error alone, rather than defendant's exercise of any option to stop or go forward, took away his 'valued right to have his trial completed by a particular tribunal.' " 504 F.2d 854-855 (footnote omitted).
The respondent characterizes a defendant's mistrial motion as a waiver of "his right not to be placed twice in jeopardy" and argues that to be valid the waiver must meet the knowing, intelligent, and voluntary standard set forth in Johnson v. Zerbst, 304 U.S. 458, 58 S.Ct. 1692, 82 L.Ed. 1461. This approach erroneously treats the defendant's interest in going forward before the first jury as a constitutional right comparable to the right to counsel. It fails to recognize that the protection against the burden of multiple prosecutions underlying the constitutional prohibition against double jeopardy may be served by a mistrial declaration and the concomitant relinquishment of the opportunity to obtain a verdict from the first jury. This Court has implicitly rejected the contention that the permissibility of a retrial following a mistrial or a reversal of a conviction on appeal depends on a knowing, voluntary, and intelligent waiver of a constitutional right. See Breed v. Jones, 421 U.S. 519, 534, 95 S.Ct. 1779, 1788, 44 L.Ed.2d 346, 358; United States v. Wilson, 420 U.S. 332, 343-344, n. 11, 95 S.Ct. 1013, 1021-1023, 43 L.Ed.2d 232, 242-243; United States v. Jorn, 400 U.S. 470, 484-485, n. 11, 91 S.Ct. 547, 556-557, 27 L.Ed.2d 543, 556-557 (plurality opinion); United States v. Tateo, 377 U.S., at 466, 84 S.Ct., at 1589, 12 L.Ed.2d, at 450.
As the dissenting judge on the original Court of Appeals panel noted, the court's decision would "give rise to much reluctance in granting mistrials" because "(t)he trial courts will understand that society will be better served by completing a trial, even after clear error has arisen and the defendant seeks the mistrial, than the alternative of a mistrial and the possible bar of double jeopardy based on the error." 492 F.2d, at 63 (Bell, J., dissenting).
This Court's decisions permitting retrials after convictions have been set aside at the defendant's behest clearly indicate "that the defendant's double jeopardy interests, however defined, do not go so far as to compel society to so mobilize its decisionmaking resources that it will be prepared to assure the defendant a single proceeding free from harmful governmental or judicial error." United States v. Jorn, supra, 400 U.S. at 484, 91 S.Ct. at 556, 27 L.Ed.2d at 556. See United States v. Tateo, supra, 377 U.S. at 466, 84 S.Ct. at 1589, 12 L.Ed.2d at 450; cf. Wade v. Hunter, 336 U.S. 684, at 688-689, 69 S.Ct. 834, at 836-837, 93 L.Ed. 974, at 977-978.
A bar association conscious of its public obligations would Sua sponte call to account an attorney guilty of the misconduct shown here. See Report of American Bar Association Special Committee on Evaluation of Disciplinary Enforcement, Problems and Recommendations in Disciplinary Enforcement 60-66 (Final Draft 1970); American Bar Association Project on Standards for Criminal Justice, Administration of Criminal Justice The Defense Function, § 7.4, p. 131 (1974 Compilation).
UNITED STATES v. Nelson E. "Buck" SANFORD et al.
Kenneth Eugene DIVANS, v. State of CALIFORNIA. No. A-91.

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