Opinion ID: 867478
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Double Jeopardy Bar of Retrial

Text: ¶ 18 Whether double jeopardy bars retrial is a question of law, which we review de novo. State v. Siddle, 202 Ariz. 512, 515, ¶ 7, 47 P.3d 1150, 1153 (App.2002). ¶ 19 Two months before his second trial, Moody filed a motion to dismiss the case and preclude retrial because of prosecutorial misconduct occurring before and during his first trial. Moody claimed that the prosecutor committed misconduct in the first trial by providing false information to the mental health experts and intentionally interfering with his relationship with his attorney. Consequently, he argued, the principles of double jeopardy should have barred retrial. The motion was denied and the case proceeded to trial. Moody raises this claim again on appeal. ¶ 20 Traditionally, this court has extended double jeopardy protection based on prosecutorial misconduct only to cases in which the defendant moves for mistrial on those grounds. See Pool v. Superior Court, 139 Ariz. 98, 108-09, 677 P.2d 261, 271-72 (1984) (holding that jeopardy attaches under art. 2, § 10 of the Arizona Constitution when a mistrial is granted and other specified conditions are met); see also State v. Jorgenson, 198 Ariz. 390, 392, ¶ 7, 10 P.3d 1177, 1179 (2000) (extending Pool to cases in which the mistrial motion was meritorious and should have been granted). Moody filed no such motion in his first trial, and the convictions arising out of that trial were reversed for deprivation of counsel, not prosecutorial misconduct. Moody, 192 Ariz. at 509, ¶ 23, 968 P.2d at 582. Thus, Moody relies on the only case in which double jeopardy protections have been applied in the absence of a motion for a mistrial: State v. Minnitt, 203 Ariz. 431, 55 P.3d 774 (2002). ¶ 21 In Minnitt, we held that double jeopardy barred the retrial of a defendant whose convictions were procured by false and perjured testimony that the prosecutor placed before the jury with full knowledge of its perjurious character and of the likelihood that it would support a conviction. Id. at 439-40, ¶¶ 37-45, 55 P.3d at 782-83. Our holding in that case was expressly conditioned on the prosecution's concealment of the misconduct; we reasoned that the misconduct in that case would have warranted a mistrial had it been discovered. Id. at 439, ¶ 35, 55 P.3d at 782 (holding that a mistrial is not a prerequisite for a double jeopardy claim if a prosecutor engages in egregious conduct sufficient to require a mistrial but manages to conceal his conduct until after trial). Moody does not claim that the misconduct of which he now complains  offering false evidence before the grand jury and interfering with his relationship with counsel  was concealed as was the conduct in Minnitt. Additionally, while Minnitt could point to places in the trial at which a mistrial would have been appropriate had the misconduct been overt, Moody has made no such assertion regarding his first trial. In short, not only did Moody fail to move for a mistrial, but he has failed to demonstrate that a mistrial would ever have been appropriate. Consequently, our holding in Minnitt offers Moody no refuge from the requirement that a motion for a mistrial based on prosecutorial misconduct be made during trial to preserve the issue for appeal. This issue therefore is not properly before us. ¶ 22 Minnitt also differs in one other important respect: after the trial court denied his motion to dismiss on double jeopardy grounds, Minnitt filed a special action seeking review of that decision. Id. at 437, ¶ 24, 55 P.3d at 780. Our courts have held that a petition for special action is the appropriate vehicle for a defendant to obtain judicial appellate review of an interlocutory double jeopardy claim. Nalbandian v. Superior Court, 163 Ariz. 126, 130, 786 P.2d 977, 981 (App.1989). The reasons underlying the preference for special action review of denials of motions to dismiss based on double jeopardy are obvious: Because the Double Jeopardy Clause guarantees the right to be free from subsequent prosecution, the clause is violated by the mere commencement of retrial. See Abney v. United States, 431 U.S. 651, 660-61, 97 S.Ct. 2034, 52 L.Ed.2d 651 (1977) (observing that appellate review of a double jeopardy claim before retrial may prevent personal strain, public embarrassment, and expense of a criminal trial caused by a retrial eventually overturned on double jeopardy grounds). ¶ 23 This court has never reviewed a double jeopardy claim based on prosecutorial misconduct if the defendant had not previously moved for mistrial or sought relief by special action from the trial court's denial of his motion to dismiss on those grounds. Moody provides no compelling reasons to diverge from this practice.