Court Opinion

ID: 9538303
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 07:34:33.536054+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T14:57:43.877546
License: Public Domain

SOSA, Chief Justice (dissenting). The general rule is that a person may be retried after a mistrial is granted at his request. But where the mistrial was caused by bad faith on the part of the prosecutor, there is a double jeopardy bar against retrial. In Day II the Court of Appeals held that the prosecutor’s conduct was “purposeful * * * and could not be rectified by admonitions from the trial court.” I read Lee v. United States, 432 U.S. 23, 97 S.Ct. 2141, 53 L.Ed.2d 80 (1977), as barring reprosecution if the underlying error was “ ‘motivated by bad faith or undertaken to harass or prejudice.’ ” Id at 33, 97 S.Ct. at 2147. Prosecutorial over-reaching has been held to be a bar to a second trial. United States v. Kessler, 530 F.2d 1246 (5th Cir. 1976). I view the prosecutorial misconduct here as both over-reaching and motivated by bad faith, and would therefore reverse. For the foregoing reasons I respectfully dissent.