Case Name: Honorable David U. STRAWN, Petitioner, v. STATE of Florida ex rel. Jon ANDERBERG, Respondent
Court: Florida Supreme Court
Jurisdiction: Florida
Decision Date: 1976-04-21
Citations: 332 So. 2d 601
Docket Number: No. 47092
Parties: Honorable David U. STRAWN, Petitioner, v. STATE of Florida ex rel. Jon ANDERBERG, Respondent.
Judges: OVERTON, C. J., and ENGLAND and SUNDBERG, JJ., concur.
Reporter: Southern Reporter, Second Series
Volume: 332
Pages: 601–610

Head Matter:
Honorable David U. STRAWN, Petitioner, v. STATE of Florida ex rel. Jon ANDERBERG, Respondent.
No. 47092.
Supreme Court of Florida.
April 21, 1976.
Rehearing Denied June 22, 1976.
Robert L. Shevin, Atty. Gen., and Stephen R. Koons, Asst. Atty. Gen., for petitioner.
Franklin D. Kelley, Public Defender, and Jerrold A. Bross, Asst. Public Defender, for respondent.

Opinion:
ROBERTS, Justice.
This cause is before us on certiorari granted to review the decision of the District Court of Appeal, Fourth District, reported at 307 So.2d 213, which purportedly conflicts with Adkins v. Smith, 205 So.2d 530 (Fla.1968); State ex rel. Cacciatore v. Drumright, 116 Fla. 496, 156 So. 721 (1934), and State ex rel. Johnson v. Anderson, 37 So.2d 910 (Fla.1948). We have jurisdiction pursuant to Article V, Section 3(b)(3), Constitution of Florida.
Respondent, Anderberg, was charged by information with the crime of breaking and entering a dwelling with intent to' commit a misdemeanor, to-wit: petit larceny. At the conclusion of the State's case, defense counsel called the defendant as a witness. After lengthy examination, cross-examination, and redirect examination of the defendant, defense counsel stated as follows:
"Your honor, if I may at this time, if it please the court, we would allow the defendant to answer any questions that the jury may wish to ask him."
The Court then excused the jury from the courtroom at which time defense counsel explained its position to the court in requesting that the jury ask defendant any questions and stated that this had been done in several other courts in this State and that it is in keeping with finding proof and justice in a court of law. The trial judge remarked that no mention had 'been made to the court that it was defense counsel's intention to request this and determined that it was a highly inappropriate procedure and that making such request in the presence of the jury so contaminated the trial as to require declaration of a mistrial. In explaining to the jury his reason for declaring a mistrial, the trial judge stated,; inter alia:
"Obviously, you are not trained in the law. It is quite possible that things that could be of interest to you would be objectionable to the State or to the Defendant. They are placed in a bad position if they have to object to a juror's question, and I am placed in a bad position if I have to sustain it, and they the jurors become adversaries, too-. And to ensure that impartiality that is so important to our system, and to ensure the fact that your decision is based only upon the evidence that is admissible in this courtroom, and that you not have any feeling of having been shut off in anything, which you would if someone objected to your question and I had to sustain it. In our system for many centuries, jurors have not been permitted to ask questions, and perhaps some day if we don't need lawyers for the system, then jurors could be permitted to ask any question they liked, and there wouldn't be any need for lawyers in the courtroom, the jurors could investigate it fully and make a decision. But that is not our system. Our system depends on utter impartiality and upon having two trained counsel to ask questions, to object to each other's questions at times, and to ask those questions for the purpose of eliciting admissible evidence."
Subsequently, pursuant to Rule 3.190(b) and Rule 3.190(c)(2), Florida Criminal Rules of Procedure, defendant moved to dismiss the information on the ground that to try defendant again would constitute double jeopardy since the trial court abused its discretion in directing a mistrial with there being no manifest necessity for mistrial. With detailed explanation pertaining particularly to the need for impartial jury, the trial judge denied the motion to dismiss and found that his declaration of mistrial was properly made and, that, therefore, jeopardy had not attached.
Defendant's petition for writ of prohibition to the District Court of Appeal, Fourth District, was granted, and the District Court determined that prohibition was an appropriate remedy and that defendant's contention of double jeopardy was meritorious. Although recognizing two earlier cases which held to the contrary on the prohibition question, the District Court explicated that the more recent decisions of this Court and the District Courts find that under these circumstances prohibition is the proper remedy. As to the second point, the District Court determined that under the circumstances, the declaration of mistrial was not a matter of manifest, urgent or absolute necessity. The District Court determined that the offer by defense counsel to submit his client to juror interrogation made in the presence of the jury could not have been misconduct or in any event could not have been misconduct of such a nature as to prevent the State from receiving a fair trial.
Initially, we remark that the District Court correctly concluded that prohibition was an appropriate and available remedy to respondent under the circumstances. Cf. State ex rel. Williams v. Grayson, 90 So.2d 710 (Fla.1956); State ex rel. Manning v. Himes, 153 Fla. 711, 15 So.2d 613 (1943); State ex rel. Wheeler v. Cooper, 157 So.2d 875 (Fla.App.1963).
However, we cannot agree with the District Court's determination that the trial judge erred in declaring a mistrial and that, therefore, jeopardy attached and the charge against respondent should be dismissed. The constitution does not guarantee a defendant a perfect trial (which would be dif ficult if not virtually impossible), but it does guarantee a fair trial. The trial judge is the man on the ground in full view of the premises. In the conducting of a complicated criminal trial, he finds it necessary to rule many times and, like the referee in an athletic contest, must rule quickly. Generally speaking, he has neither the time, convenient library, nor a staff to research each legal and evidentiary question with which he is confronted in a fast moving trial. It is, therefore, necessary that he be given broad discretion in disposing of such matters.
Sub judice the trial judge was suddenly confronted with a difficult situation created by trial counsel conducting himself in an unorthodox manner. After defense counsel had made the aforementioned remark, the trial judge stated:
"We have had one problem in this court, and it is that you made no mention to me that this was your intention to request this. I regard it as highly inappropriate procedure. Who is to object to a Juror's question? And you're [sic] asking it in the presence of the Jury so contaminates this trial that I am at this time declaring a mistrial."
The defendant should not now be allowed to take advantage of a confusing situation which he and his counsel created. Cf. Adkins v. Smith, supra. There well may have been better ways, after meditation, to dispose of the crisis but the trial judge exercised his discretion to declare a mistrial, and we are unable to say that his decision was an abuse of that discretion. Since it was not an abuse of discretion to enter the mistrial, the plea of former jeopardy is not available to the defendant as a defense.
At this point, we must restate the following relevant portion of our decision in Adkins v. Smith, supra:
"The question here under consideration was discussed by this court in State v. Grayson, Fla., 90 So.2d 710, in which it announced illustrations of urgent or necessary reasons that would justify the entry of an order declaring a mistrial. These reasons were illustrative but not exclusive. We announced the rule there that where a jury is discharged for legally insufficient reasons and without necessity and without the defendant's consent, such discharge would preclude a subsequent trial for the same offense. But in determining what is a legally sufficient reason, the trial court must be armed with discretion since he is conducting the trial and familiar with circumstances, tensions and conditions which may be present in the courtroom. The matter of the trial judge's discretion in such cases was discussed by the Supreme Court of the United States in Gori v. United States, 367 U.S. 364, 81 S.Ct. 1523, 6 L.Ed.2d 901, in which that court affirmed Gori's conviction at his second trial on a charge he had knowingly received and possessed goods stolen in interstate commerce. After his first trial had been terminated by the trial judge's declaration of a mistrial sua sponte and without petitioner's express consent but concedingly in the trial court's exercise of discretion • out of regard for petitioner's interest, the court held that the second trial was not double jeopardy, and said:—
" 'Since 1824 it has been settled law in this Court that "The double-jeopardy provision of the Fifth Amendment does not mean that every time a defendant is put to trial before a competent tribunal he is entitled to go free if the trial fails to end in a final judgment." Wade v. Hunter, 336 U.S. 684, 688, 69 S.Ct. 834, 831, 93 L.Ed. 974; United States v. Perez, 9 Wheat. 579, 6 L.Ed. 165; Thompson v. United States, 155 U.S. 271, 15 S.Ct. 73, 39 L.Ed. 146; Keerl v. State of Montana, 213 U.S. 135, 137-138, 29 S.Ct. 469, 53 L.Ed. 734; see Ex parte Lange, 18 Wall. 163, 173-174, 21 L.Ed. 872; Green v. United States, 355 U.S. 184, 188, 78 S.Ct. 221, 223, 2 L.Ed.2d 199. Where, for reasons deemed compelling by the trial judge, who is best situated intelligently to make such a decision, the ends of substantial justice cannot be attained without discontinuing the trial, a mistrial may be declared without the defendant's consent and even over his objection, and he may be retried consistently with the Fifth Amendment. Simmons v. United States, 142 U.S. 148, 12 S.Ct. 171, 35 L.Ed. 968; Logan v. United States, 144 U.S. 263, 12 S.Ct. 617, 36 L.Ed. 429; Dreyer v. Illinois, 187 U.S. 71, 85-86, 23 S.Ct. 28, 47 L.Ed. 79. It is also clear that "This Court has long favored the rule of discretion in the trial judge to declare a mistrial and to require another panel to try the defendant if the ends of justice will be best served Brock v. North Carolina, 344 U.S. 424, 427, 73 S.Ct. 349, 350, 97 L.Ed. 456, and that we have consistently declined to scrutinize with sharp surveillance the exercise of that discretion. See Lovato v. New Mexico, 242 U.S. 199, 37 S.Ct. 107, 61 L.Ed. 244; cf. Wade v. Hunter, supra. In the Perez case, the authoritative starting point of our law in this field, Mr. Justice Story, for a unanimous Court, thus stated the principals which have since guided the federal courts in this application of the concept of double jeopardy to situations giving rise to mistrials:
" ' We think, that in all cases of this nature, the law has invested Courts of justice with the authority to discharge a jury from giving any verdict, whenever, in their opinion, taking all the circumstances into consideration, there is a manifest necessity for the act, or the ends of public justice would otherwise 'be defeated. They are to exercise a sound discretion on the subject; and it is impossible to define all the circumstances, which would render it proper to interfere. To be sure, the power ought to be used with the greatest caution, under urgent circumstances, and for very plain and obvious causes ; and, in capital cases especially, courts should be extremely careful how they interfere with any of the chances of life, in favor of the prisoner. But, after all, they have the right to order the discharge; and the security which the public have for the faithful, sound, and conscientious exercise of this discretion, rests, in this, as in other cases, upon the responsibility of the judges under their oaths of office. " '

". . . The New Jersey Supreme Court in an exhaustive treatise on the subject, said:—
" 'As we have noted above, the double jeopardy protection does not mean that once an accused has been put on trial regularly, the proceeding must run its ordinary course to judgment of conviction or acquittal. The rule does not operate so mechanistically. If some unexpected, untoward and undesigned incident or circumstance arises which does not bespeak bad faith, inexcusable neglect or inadvertence or oppressive conduct on the part of the State, but which in the considered judgment of the trial court creates an urgent need to discontinue the trial in order to safeguard the defendant against real or apparent prejudice stemming therefrom, the Federal and State Constitutions do not stand in the way of declaration of a mistrial. And this is true even if the conscientious act of the trial judge may be characterized as the product of "extreme solicitude" or "overeager solicitude" for the accused. See, Gori v. United States, supra, 367 U.S., at p. 367, 81 S.Ct., at p. 1525. Moreover, if an incident or circumstance of that nature moves the court to order a mistrial not only to safeguard the right of the defendant to a full and fair trial, but also to protect the right of society to have its trial processes applied fully and fairly in the due administration of the criminal law, there is even less basis for a claim of trespass upon the privilege against double jeopardy....'"
Cf. U. S. v. Jorn, 400 U.S. 470 at 479-480, 91 S.Ct. 547, 27 L.Ed.2d 543 (1971); Tyson v. State ex rel. Richmond, 240 So.2d 811 (Fla.1970); Goodman v. State ex rel. Furlong, 247 So.2d 47 (Fla.1971); State ex rel. Mitchell v. Walker, 294 So.2d 124 (Fla.App. 2, 1974).
During the course of the hearing on motion to dismiss the information on grounds of double jeopardy, the learned trial judge explained his finding that it was manifestly urgent and necessary to terminate the trial, as follows:
"If it is a practice which is one which undermines the jury system of the jury trial, I think the question is really whether or not we want an inquisitorial system or we want a system of jury trials which are conducted by a Judge with the assistance of trained advocates, in accordance with well-developed and historically sound rules of law; particularly, those rules of law that deal with procedure, rights of defendant, and questions of what may or may not be introduced.
"Upon a question of criminal litiga-tions, as evidenced for the consideration by the Jury, the first question that comes to mind when a situation like this was created, is if we assume for the moment that that is the law or would be the law, that either Counsel could subject any witness to the questioning of a jury, who is not trained to the law, has no awareness of the problems of evidentiary procedure.
"First of all, we would have the fact that the other adversary is placed in the position of having to object to the very procedure, that lay people could very well read into that objection something like this: There is something we don't want the jury to know and, therefore, Judge, we don't want to let them ask any questions. We want control. That is the way the system operates and laymen could very well reach that inference, which would be an unfortunate inference in the Court of a jury trial on actions.
"Fairness on objections is also one of the legal rules in obtaining a verdict.
"The second problem that comes up is who is to object to the improper questions óf jurors; and, here, we not only move into an area which the Defendant suggested that juries should ask questions, that the State might have some objections to the questions asked, but we also expose the Defendant's right to either open litigation or certainly cross-examination in the process, because the Defendant, after having asked a question like this, if the Court and jury permit them to ask questions, could then very well be faced with the position where they would like to question the Defendant about other crimes that they believe he might have been involved in.
"The Defendant would be subjected to two alternatives then. He might perjure himself, if there were other crimes, or he might not want to give up his right to remain silent and not to testify against himself regarding such other offenses and other crimes.
"In addition, who would object, if the Jury wanted to inquire into hearsay matters? For example, the jury might inquire as to whether or not anybody in the Defendant's family had ever committed a crime or did the Defendant run around with criminals.
"There are lots of other possibilities, and I am suggesting that rather than go through all the horribles, I think the problem as suggested would involve two other points. The jury also would be placed, as mentioned by the State, there is a distinct possibility that the jurors will become advocates. They will lose their ability to remain neutral. If they don't like an answer given or the way it's given or if objections by Counsel to a question asked by a juror, and they take the adverse position established by that objection, and instead of fair and impartial jurors who are not going to form or express any opinions until the entire 'case has been heard, we would now have some advocates on the jury. They can no longer function as a jury system has been evolved to function.
"Now, it is possible that with the agreement of the trial judge and by approaching him in advance of trial with the thought that such procedure might be employed, and with the agreement of all concerned, that the jurors could be permitted to submit questions in writing and not communicate their questions to each other; those questions would be reviewed by the Court and Counsel, and those questions that could be answered, could be answered in open court by the Judge, after having ruled on any objections that either Counsel might have to the question or the answer which it sought.
"Even that is a pretty far out procedure. I wouldn't take it upon myself without the benefit of a lot of things to induce that kind of procedure into our system, because the very fundamental base of our system is the adversary concept, and this begins to move a little bit away from it. In fact, it moves drastically away from it in the way it was used in this trial, that if we are to move away from an adversary approach and go to an inquisitorial approach, that procedure will have to be adopted by a higher court than my own.
"The question we come to is whether or not introducing this element into the case is sort of a misconduct of Counsel that justifies this Court in declaring a mistrial. Because, I find as I do that this is not a common practice, that it is apparent that that the practice is not provided for by any rule of procedure or rule of law, and one which violates the fundamental precepts of our system and risks the rights of our Defendant, which have always been protected by our system.
"I feel that such misconduct would justify the Court in terminating the trial at that time. I believe it was manifestly urgent and necessary to terminate the trial because I don't believe by any stretch of the imagination those jurors could be convinced that they weren't being deprived of some possible right. I don't think they could be convinced without convincing them that the attorney himself and perhaps even his clients were a party to the improper conduct, nor do I think they could be convinced that from that point forward in .the trial, they should disregard what happened and ignore it and go on as they had agreed to try the case.
"The Court, as that time, felt strong enough that the problem was too risky to the sanctity of the trial of the Defendant. If that sort of conduct is to be permitted and it is not grounds for a mistrial, there, again, I will have to have an appellate court tell me, because if they tell me that that is not sufficient in misconduct and that it would be enough to merely tell the 'jury to ignore the offer, which, on the behavioral sense I mentioned before, I don't think it would be sufficient to instruct them to erase that from their minds after having made that kind of an offer."
Respondent gave absolutely no notice to anyone that he planned to follow this unorthodox course of action. As above stated, the trial judge indicated that he may have entertained jury questioning and set up an appropriate procedure for it which would safeguard the defendant's rights if counsel had given him the opportunity. The holding that the trial judge did not err in declaring a mistrial does not contradict our earlier holdings in Ferrara v. State, 101 So.2d 797 (Fla.1958) and Shoultz v. State, 106 So.2d 424 (Fla.1958). In Ferrara, this Court merely stated:
"We think that upon appropriate occasion a trier of fact might be completely justified in propounding a question.
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"We conclude that the procedure should be one to be controlled by the discretion of the trial judge." (Emphasis supplied)
For the foregoing reasons, we find that the trial judge did not abuse his discretion in declaring a mistrial and the plea of former jeopardy is not available to respondent-defendant.
Accordingly, the decision of the District Court of Appeal is quashed and the cause is remanded to the District Court with instructions that it be remanded by them to the trial court with directions that the trial court reinstate the charges and proceed with the trial.
It is so ordered.
OVERTON, C. J., and ENGLAND and SUNDBERG, JJ., concur.
ADKINS, J., dissents with an opinion.
BOYD and HATCHETT, JJ., dissent and concur with ADKINS, J.