Court Opinion

ID: 9673214
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 04:08:30.473751+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:16:20.836900
License: Public Domain

T. M. Burns, J.
(dissenting). It is agreed that the basic premise upon which the constitutional protection against double jeopardy is based is that the state "should not be allowed to make repeated attempts to convict an individual for an alleged offense, thereby subjecting him to embarrassment, expense and ordeal and compelling him to live in a continuing state of anxiety and insecurity”. Green v United States, 355 US 184, 187; 78 S Ct 221, 223; 2 L Ed 2d 199, 204 (1957). Accord, People v Alvin Johnson, 396 Mich 424; 240 NW2d 729 (1976). Thus, the rule is stated, once a defendant has been placed in jeopardy, the state may not again bring the defendant to trial unless he consents to the interruption of the trial or a mistrial occurs because of manifest necessity. People v Alvin Johnson, supra, at 431. A defendant is placed in jeopardy once he is put to trial before the trier of fact. In a jury trial, jeopardy attaches when the jury is impaneled and sworn. United States v Jorn, 400 US 470; 91 S Ct 547; 27 L Ed 2d 543 (1971). The majority thus concludes that, in a jury trial, swearing of the jury is a condition precedent to the attachment of jeopardy. But if it is agreed that the purpose of the double jeopardy rule is to protect the individual from having to experience the personal anxieties and hardships of a criminal trial more than once for the same, offense, the rules concerning when jeopardy attaches are little *231more than lines of demarcation indicative of the point at which a defendant is put to the rigors of a trial.
The majority cite People v Parker, 145 Mich 488; 108 NW 999 (1906), for the rule that a qualified jury is essential to constitute jeopardy. The Court in Parser addresses the power of a trial court to discharge a jury without prejudice to a new trial where it is determined that a juror has become disqualified because of corruption or prejudice. The ultimate ruling in that case in fact rested upon the proposition stated by Justice Cooley in People v Jones, 48 Mich 554, 555; 12 NW 848 (1882), that where a jury has been impaneled and the prosecution has presented its case, if the jury is discharged without a verdict being given and without any overruling necessity, the defendant must be discharged. Parker m. no way addresses the question of the swearing of the jury.
I would hold that failure of the jury to be sworn did not prevent jeopardy from attaching in this case as all the other incidents of trial were present, a jury was impaneled and the prosecutor’s case was presented. The remaining question is whether dismissal of the jury was prompted by manifest necessity as defendant clearly did not consent to the mistrial.
"[I]n all cases of this nature, the law has invested Courts of justice with the authority to discharge a jury from giving any verdict, whenever, in their opinion, taking all circumstances into consideration, there is manifest necessity for the act, or the ends of public justice would otherwise be defeated. They are to exercise a sound discretion on the subject, and it is impossible to define all the circumstances, which would render it proper to interfere. To be sure, the power ought to be used with the greatest caution, under urgent circumstances, and for very plain and obvious causes.” United States v Perez, 22 US (9 Wheat) 579, 580; 6 L Ed 165 (1824).
*232In People v Alvin Johnson, supra, at 434, the Court recognized that a mere error of law or procedure does not constitute legal necessity and that the trial court’s discretion to dismiss the jury should be exercised only in "very extraordinary and striking circumstances”. Failure to swear the jury before the prosecutor submits his proofs is not a "very extraordinary and striking circumstance” which clearly prejudices one of the parties. Neither court rule GCR 1963, 511.7 nor the statute MCLA 768.14; MSA 28.1037 requires that the jury be sworn prior to deliberation. I find and the majority cites no authority for the proposition that failure to swear the jury before any evidence is taken is error of any kind. When the trial judge discovered his error in the instant case, he could have sworn the jury and continued the trial. I find a clear abuse of discretion on the part of the trial court in sua sponte declaring a mistrial. This error was accentuated by the fact that neither of the parties were consulted by the trial court before the trial was ended. The defendant was clearly denied the right to inform the court of "factors which are germane to his interests in the trial’s continuation”. People v Gardner, 37 Mich App 520, 536; 195 NW2d 62 (1972).
I would reverse the conviction.