Opinion ID: 351542
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Impact of the Dismissal.

Text: 61 Appellee next urges that the government lost its right to retry him even if the mistrial was properly ordered because of the subsequent state-initiated dismissal. The Supreme court has ruled on an issue very similar to this in United States v. Sanford, 429 U.S. 14, 97 S.Ct. 20, 50 L.Ed.2d 17 (1976). In Sanford the defendants' first trial resulted in a hung jury and the district court declared a mistrial. Four months later, while the government was preparing for retrial, the defendants sought and received a dismissal of the charges based on a defense of governmental consent to the acts which led to the indictment. The government's appeal of the dismissal was dismissed by this circuit. The government appealed and the Supreme Court remanded for reconsideration. Again the court of appeals ruled that jeopardy had attached and that the dismissal prevented any future trial under the Double Jeopardy Clause of the Fifth Amendment. 62 In a summary reversal the Supreme Court ruled that the hung jury resulting in the mistrial satisfied the manifest necessity requirements of Perez independent of the dismissal and permitted a retrial. The Court said: 63 The dismissal in this case, like that in Serfass, was prior to a trial that the Government had a right to prosecute and that the defendant was required to defend. Since in such cases a trial following the Government's successful appeal of a dismissal is not barred by double jeopardy, an appeal from the dismissal is authorized by 18 U.S.C. § 3731. United States v. Sanford, supra, 97 S.Ct. at 22. 64 Here too, because of the hung jury, the state had a right to bring a second trial and appellee Arnold was required to defend. The only difference is that in this case the state was the party which sought the dismissal. However, we have already explained that the prosecutor needs wide latitude in the exercise of his prosecutorial discretion. Once a mistrial had been fairly ordered the situation became analogous to the pretrial period in which the prosecutor has undisputed authority to dismiss charges without fear of being prohibited from reasserting them by the Fifth Amendment. Subsequent to the declaration of a mistrial for reasons which satisfy the manifest necessity standards of the Double Jeopardy Clause, the state can dismiss criminal charges without forfeiting the right to retry them.