Court Opinion

ID: 9551295
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 18:50:52.819217+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:23:29.531322
License: Public Domain

BERNSTEIN, Justice
(dissenting).
I dissent from the decision of the majority for the same reasons expressed in my dissenting opinion in State v. Thomas, 88 Ariz. 269, 273, 356 P.2d 20, 22. I must add, however, that in my opinion not only does the Double Jeopardy Clause of our State Constitution, Art. 2, Sec. 10, prohibit the retrial of this defendant for the crime of possession of narcotics for sale, but also the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution proscribes such injustice.
The exact question is whether the Double Jeopardy Clause of the Fifth Amendment is incorporated into the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment as applied to the states. The Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment certainly includes the notion of “fundamental fairness”. In my opinion it is patently unfair to place an accused, who has been tried for a greater offense and convicted of a lesser offense, in a position where he must decide whether to suffer the conviction imposed or appeal *87and thereby expose himself to prosecution for the greater offense if his appeal is successful. The fundamental unfairness in such a choice is the obvious “chilling effect” on the constitutionally guaranteed right of appeal. Instead, the crucial question should always be whether the accused has been exposed to jeopardy.
The majority of this court relies on Cichos v. State of Indiana, 385 U.S. 76, 87 S.Ct. 271, 17 L.Ed.2d 175, to reach the conclusion that the United States Supreme Court still follows its decision in Palko v. State of Connecticut, 302 U.S. 319, 58 S.Ct. 149, 82 L.Ed. 288. I do not agree. In Cichos v. State of Indiana, supra, the court dismissed the writ as improvidently granted, and therefore never reached the question whether the Double Jeopardy Clause of the Fifth Amendment is incorporated into the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment as applied to the States. The Supreme Court stated:
“ * * * petitioner, in his petition for certiorari which we granted, presented a single question: Is the Fifth Amendment’s prohibition against placing an accused in double jeopardy applicable to state court prosecutions under the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment?
Because of the following considerations, which have more clearly emerged after full briefing and oral argument, we do not reach the issue posed by the petitioner and dismiss the writ as improvidently granted.” (Emphasis added.) 385 U.S. at 77, 87 S.Ct. at 272, 17 L.Ed.2d at 177.
It appears that if the question were squarely before the Supreme Court they would answer it in the affirmative. See Cichos v. State of Indiana, 385 U.S. 77, 80, 87 S.Ct. 271, 273, 17 L.Ed.2d 175 (Fortas, J., dissenting); Bartkus v. People of State of Illinois, 359 U.S. 121, 150, 79 S.Ct. 676, 695, 3 L.Ed.2d 684, 705 (Black, J., dissenting). Indeed Mr. Justice Fortas expressed what he believed to be the basic defect in any procedure similar to ours when he said :
“ * * * the Fourteenth Amendment’s requirement of due process, in my view, certainly and clearly includes a prohibition of this kind of heads-you-lose, tails-you-lose trial and appellate process.” 385 U.S. at 81, 87 S.Ct. at 274, 17 L.Ed.2d at 180.
I would answer the certified question in the affirmative.