Opinion ID: 437234
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Effect of the Order for a New Trial

Text: 9 The first question need not detain us long--notwithstanding the requirement of Fed.R.Crim.P. 12(b) that motions challenging the institution of the prosecution, on a basis other than an absence of the court's jurisdiction or the failure of the indictment to charge an offense, must be made before trial, and the provision of Rule 12(f) that the failure to make prior to trial a motion that is required to be made prior to trial constitutes waiver. Had there been no reversal of Lawson's conviction, the effect of these rules would have been to bar any assertion of his IAD rights. It has long been established, however, that when a judgment has been reversed and the case remanded for a new trial, the effect is to nullify the judgment entirely and place the parties in the position of no trial having taken place. In United States v. Ayres, 76 U.S. (9 Wall.) 608, 19 L.Ed. 625 (1869), in dismissing an appeal from a judgment that had been followed by an order for a new trial, the Supreme Court stated as follows: 10 [I]t is quite clear, that the order granting the new trial has the effect of vacating the former judgment, and to render it null and void, and the parties are left in the same situation as if no trial had ever taken place in the cause. This is the legal effect of the new trial by a court competent to grant it. 11 Id. at 610, 19 L.Ed. 625. 12 In accordance with this principle, after a conviction has been reversed on appeal and the case remanded for a new trial, the government has been permitted to add to the original indictment, see United States v. Ragano, 520 F.2d 1191, 1199 (5th Cir.1975), cert. denied, 427 U.S. 905, 96 S.Ct. 3192, 49 L.Ed.2d 1199 (1976), and to use evidence not offered at the first trial, see United States v. Paroutian, 319 F.2d 661, 663 (2d Cir.1963); and a defendant has been permitted to raise issues not raised at the first trial, see United States v. Cox, 432 F.2d 1326, 1327 (D.C.Cir.1970), and to make a new pretrial motion to suppress evidence, see United States v. Romano, 241 F.Supp. 933, 936 (D.Me.1965), vacated on other grounds, 356 F.2d 310 (1st Cir.1966). 13 In the present case, Lawson's conviction was reversed by this Court and the matter was remanded for a new trial. Since the effect of this decision was to place the parties ... in the same situation as if no trial had ever taken place, United States v. Ayres, supra, 76 U.S. (9 Wall.) at 610,any motion made by Lawson on remand prior to the retrial must be treated as a motion prior to trial. Since his motion to dismiss on IAD grounds was made prior to his retrial, it was timely under Rule 12.