Court Opinion

ID: 9758341
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-28 23:23:00.696465+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:28:49.688720
License: Public Domain

MANDERINO, Justice,
dissenting.
The majority erroneously concludes that appellant has waived his double jeopardy claim. That claim is meritorious and entitles appellant to a discharge. I must therefore respectfully dissent.
As stated in my concurring opinion in Commonwealth v. Walker, 468 Pa. 323, 362 A.2d 227 (1976), a double jeopardy claim challenges the court’s jurisdiction, and as such, may be raised at any time, even initially on appeal. No court can constitutionally try or sentence a person twice in violation of the double jeopardy provisions of the Federal or state constitutions. Because of these provisions, we concluded in Commonwealth v. Bartolomucci, 468 Pa. 338, 362 A.2d 234 (1976), that the failure to specifically object to the correctness of the trial court’s sua sponte declaration of a mistrial did not constitute a waiver of that issue on appeal.
Additionally, the prosecution in this case has failed to raise the issue of appellant’s waiver of this claim, and I believe that this Court violates the command of Commonwealth v. Clair, 458 Pa. 418, 326 A.2d 272 (1974), by *90raising the issue sua sponte. I fail to see why the question of whether or not a defendant has preserved an issue for appeal should be treated differently than any other issue. One of the purposes of the Clair rule was to encourage attorneys to thoroughly prepare and present their cases at the trial level so that issues could be decided initially there. That need applies with equal force to both defense counsel and prosecutors. If the prosecution fails to raise the issue of the defendant’s “waiver” of an issue, it should be held, like any other party on appeal, to have “waived” that issue on appeal, and this Court should not decide that “waiver” issue sua sponte. Therefore, I believe that this Court should decide appellant’s double jeopardy claim.
Appellant and Simmons were brought to trial on February 6, 1973, charged with murder and other charges, including robbery and larceny counts. Jury selection occupied the entire day of February 6, and was completed by noon February 7, 1973. The taking of testimony began that afternoon and continued through February 8. The prosecution’s theory was that appellant and Simmons had taken Motto to the “Cove” for the purpose of taking his money and other valuables. The prosecution however, failed to support this theory, and appellant’s demurrer to the robbery, larceny, and associated counts was sustained by the trial court. All evidence had been entered, and the closing arguments of both sides were completed before noon on February 9, 1973. The case was submitted to the jury on counts of murder, assault with intent to commit murder, aggravated assault and battery, simple assault and battery, and related conspiracy counts after instruction by the trial court. These instructions were completed at approximately 2:45 p. m., February 9, 1973. At 4:20 p. m., the jurors were brought back to the court room for further instructions, having requested that the trial court answer certain questions regarding the definition of the crime of mur*91der. Such instructions, occupying ten pages of the transcript, were given. At 6:20 p. m., the court reconvened, without the jury, to announce a recess until 7:45 p. m., and to direct court attendants to provide the jury with an evening meal. The evening meal was given to the jurors in the jury room so that they could continue their deliberations while dining. At 9:15 p. m., the jurors sent another note to the trial court indicating their failure to reach a verdict and adding, “ [we] cannot see any chance of coming to a verdict.” Upon receiving this note, the trial court had the jury brought into the court room and questioned them, in the presence of counsel and the appellant, as to the possibility of their reaching a verdict upon further deliberation. After pointing out the importance to all concerned of the jurors’ using every reasonable effort to reach a decision, while at the same time making clear that it was not intended to coerce any juror into giving up his or her individual beliefs, the trial judge again inquired as to the possible productiveness of further deliberations, and one of the jurors responded affirmatively. Another inquired as to the possibility of rendering a verdict on less than all counts, and the trial judge replied that such could be done but that he hoped that that would not be the result. With this, the jury was sent back for further deliberation.
At 10:30 p. m., the trial judge again reconvened court, and brought the jury back to the court room. The jurors had not requested that their deliberations be interrupted, nor had they given any further indication of an inability to reach a verdict. Inquiry by the trial court revealed that in the intervening hour, the jury’s deliberations had yielded agreement as to some of the counts. The counts to which the jury had reached agreement were conspiracy to commit murder, assault with intent to commit murder, assault and battery, and conspiracy to commit assault and battery. The counts to which the jury had not reached agreement at this point included the murder *92charge, the aggravated assault and battery count, and conspiracy to commit aggravated assault and battery. The trial judge, having thus ascertained the state of the jury’s deliberations, turned to counsel and asked if there was “any point in taking the verdict on the ones they have agreed on.” The assistant district attorney answered in the affirmative; defense counsel answered in the negative. Without further comment, the trial court declared a mistrial, “by reason of the failure of the jury to be able to agree to a unanimous verdict on all of the charges.” The case was continued, a new trial date subsequently fixed, and appellant was released upon existing bail pending a new trial.
Appellant’s second trial commenced on April 24, 1973, and was completed on April 26, 1973, upon the rendering of a jury verdict finding appellant guilty of voluntary manslaughter, aggravated assault and battery, assault and battery, conspiracy to commit aggravated assault and battery, and conspiracy to commit assault and battery. Appellant was sentenced to two to five years imprisonment. Post-verdict motions were denied and this appeal followed.
My analysis of appellant’s double jeopardy argument begins with an examination of the nature and purpose of the double jeopardy protection provided by the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution. As stated in Commonwealth v. Monte, 459 Pa. 495, 329 A.2d 836 (1974), the double jeopardy prohibition against retrial represents “ ‘a constitutional policy of finality for the defendant’s benefit’ in criminal proceedings. United States v. Jorn, 400 U.S. 470, 479, 91 S.Ct. 547, 554, 27 L.Ed.2d 543, 553 (1971).”
“A power in government to subject the individual to repeated prosecutions for the same offense would cut deeply into the framework of procedural protections which the Constitution establishes for the conduct of a criminal trial. And society’s awareness of the heavy personal strain which a criminal trial represents for *93the individual defendant is manifested in the willingness to limit the Government to a single criminal proceeding to vindicate its very vital interest in enforcement of criminal laws. Both of these considerations are expressed in Green v. United States, 355 U.S. 184, 187-188, 78 S.Ct. 221, 223, 2 L.Ed.2d 199, 204-205, 61 A.L.R.2d 1119 (1957), where the Court noted that the policy underlying this provision ‘is that the State with all its resources and power 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, as well as enhancing the possibility that even though innocent he may be found guilty.’ ”
As quoted in Commonwealth v. Monte, 459 Pa. at 502, 329 A.2d at 839.
On the other hand it has also been recognized that not all retrials should be prohibited, and in certain circumstances the allowance of a second trial is justifiable. In United States v. Perez, 9 Wheat. (22 U.S.) 579, 6 L.Ed. 165 (1824), the test for appellate review of a trial judge’s exercise of discretion in declaring a mistrial without a defendant’s consent was set forth. The standard of Perez has been acknowledged as the standard by which we will review such a declaration of mistrial today. That standard requires the ascertainment of whether there was “manifest necessity” for the trial court’s declaration. In exercising its discretion in this regard, the trial court, as stated by Jom, supra, must not “. . . forclose the defendant’s option until a scrupulous exercise of judicial discretion leads to the conclusion that the ends of public justice would not be served by a continuation of the proceedings.” 400 U.S. at 485, 91 S.Ct. at 557, 27 L.Ed.2d at 557. See also Commonwealth v. Ferguson, 446 Pa. 24, 285 A.2d 189 (1971).
“ ‘. . . in the final analysis, the judge must always temper the decision whether or not to abort the trial *94by considering the importance to the defendant of being able, once and for all, to conclude his confrontation with society through the verdict of a tribunal he might believe to be favorably disposed to his fate.’ ” 446 Pa. at 29, 285 A.2d at 191, quoting from United States v. Perez, 9 Wheat. (22 U.S.) 579, 6 L.Ed. 165 (1824).
It has of course been recognized that the genuine inability of the jury to agree upon a verdict constitutes a “manifest necessity” to declare a mistrial over defendant’s objection. When such manifest necessity exists, there is no offense to the defendant’s Fifth Amendment rights. Green v. United States, 355 U.S. 184, 78 S.Ct. 221, 2 L.Ed.2d 199 (1957); Wade v. Hunter, 336 U.S. 684, 69 S.Ct. 834, 93 L.Ed. 974 (1949). See also, the decisions of this Court following the guidelines set forth by the Supreme Court of the United States. E.g., Commonwealth v. Monte, 459 Pa. 495, 329 A.2d 836 (1974), and cases cited therein. Additionally, in Commonwealth v. Brown, 451 Pa. 395, 301 A.2d 876 (1973), we reiterated our approval of the American Bar Association’s Standards Relating to Trial by Jury, Section 5.4(c) which provides:
“the jury may be discharged without having agreed upon a verdict if it appears that there is no reasonable probability of agreement.”
It is thus apparent that appellate review of the trial court’s exercise of discretion in declaring a mistrial without defendant’s approval will necessarily have to examine closely the question of whether a “reasonable, probability of agreement” by the jury existed in a particular case. In so examining the probability of a jury’s agreement any doubt as the existence of “manifest necessity” must be resolved
“ ‘. . . in favor of the liberty of the citizen rather than [by exercising] what would be an unlimited, uncertain, and arbitrary judicial discretion.’ ”
*95Commonwealth v. Ferguson, 446 Pa. at 30, 285 A.2d at 191, quoting from Downum v. United States, 372 U.S. 734, 738, 83 S.Ct. 1033, 1035, 10 L.Ed.2d 100, 103 (1963).
Initially, appellant argues that the second trial constituted double jeopardy because there was no “manifest necessity” to declare the mistrial because the jury had deliberated a total time of less than seven and a half hours. In effect, appellant argues that it was unreasonable for the trial court to conclude, on the basis of that limited total time of actual deliberation, that there was no reasonable probability of agreement. The reasonableness of the length of time of jury deliberation is to be determined by a case by case basis. Commonwealth v. Monte, 459 Pa. 495, 329 A.2d 836 (1974). As we said in Monte,
“There are too many variables in the trial of criminal cases which would prevent the formulation of predetermined periods of time for the jury’s deliberation. Each case differs in the complexity of the issues presented, the seriomness of the charges, the number of charges to be considered, the amount of testimony to be digested and reviewed, thus requiring the reasonableness of the time for deliberations to be made on a case-by-case basis.” (Emphasis added.)
Id. at 504, 329 A.2d at 840.
We concluded in Monte, based on our analysis of the above variables, that the appellant’s second trial did not constitute double jeopardy, because in the circumstances presented in Monte, manifest necessity to declare a mistrial existed. These circumstances included the following: only two indictments were submitted to the jury for their determination; and the charges were comparatively minor (consisting of the charge of conspiracy, and of setting up and maintaining an illegal lottery). Additionally, the amount of testimony was not great: the total trial having consumed just over two days time. Because *96the issues to be decided were not serious or complex, because the charges were not numerous, and because the amount of testimony to be digested by the jury was small, we concluded that 6% hours was a reasonable period after which to accept the jury’s conclusion that they were hopelessly deadlocked.
In contrast to Monte, supra, the issues in the instant appeal were numerous, serious, and complex. As has been previously stated, appellant was charged with several crimes arising out of the death of Vincent Motto. These charges included murder, assault with intent to commit murder, aggravated assault and battery, simple assault and battery, conspiracy to commit murder, conspiracy to commit aggravated assault and battery, and conspiracy to commit simple assault and battery. Furthermore, the murder count included all degrees of murder as well as voluntary manslaughter. Thus, although the instant trial did not consume any more time than did the trial in Monte, unlike Monte, the issues to be determined here were complex and many, the charges were the most serious that can be brought, and the conclusion that TY2 hours of actual deliberation time was sufficient to indicate that there was no reasonable probability of agreement was, in my opinion, an abuse of discretion under the circumstances.
Furthermore, I note that in the one hour time period between 9:25 p. m., when the jury was sent back for their final deliberations, and 10:30 p. m., at which time the jury was dismissed, the record indicates that the jury had made considerable progress in their efforts to reach agreement on the charges involved here. At 9:15 p. m., the jury had sent a note to the trial judge indicating their failure to reach a verdict and adding “ [we] cannot see a chance of coming to a verdict.” Upon questioning by the trial court as to the possibility of their reaching a verdict upon further deliberation, the foreman indicated that there was disagreement as to all counts involved. *97At 10:30 p. m., the trial judge again called the jury out of the jury room and asked them if there was any possibility that they would be able to agree on all counts. At this time it developed that the jury had agreed as to some of the counts, namely, conspiracy to commit murder, assault with intent to commit murder, assault and battery, and conspiracy to commit assault and battery. The progress which the jury made in that hour further supports my conclusion that the trial court abused its discretion in discharging the jury at that time.
In Commonwealth v. Ferguson, 446 Pa. 24, 285 A.2d 189 (1971), we concluded that the trial court abused its discretion by discharging the jury because options other than the grant of a mistrial were available. These options (to proceed on one indictment, then grant a continuance to the prosecution until one of its witnesses could be located and testify as to the other indictment) were available and could have been used rather than the severe measure of declaring a mistrial. In the instant case, I believe that the jury should have been allowed to deliberate longer, and that in light of the progress that it had already made concerning the issues involved, arrangements should have been made to house the jury for the night if that proved necessary. This could have been done without danger of coercing a verdict by forcing the jury to deliberate too long.
The transcript reflects what occurred just prior to the court’s declaration of a mistrial.
“(Jury brought in at 10:30 P. M.)
THE COURT: The record will note the defendant and his counsel are present.
Members of the Jury: I have sent for you. I take it from the fact you have not reported that you have no [sic] reached a verdict on all of the counts? Mr. Foreman, am I correct in assuming that is true that you have not yet arrived at a decision on all of the charges ?
*98THE FOREMAN: That is correct, Your Honor.
THE COURT: Have you any reasonable prospect that you will be able to arrive at a decision on all of the counts?
THE FOREMAN: At this moment, no, sir, Your Honor.
THE COURT: You had the qualification at this moment. I am not sure of the significance of that. Does that indicate you think there might be some usefulness in further deliberation ?
THE FOREMAN: At this moment, I don’t see any chance of reaching a verdict.
THE COURT: All right. Now, may I ask whether you have reached a decision on any of the charges ?
THE FOREMAN: Yes, we have, Your Honor.”
(Emphasis added.)
The foreman then explained to the trial court, those counts which the jury had agreed upon. The following then occurred.
“THE COURT: All right. Implicit that you have not reached a decision on the other charges ?
THE FOREMAN: No, sir. We are close, but we have not reached a decision. (Emphasis added.)
THE COURT: You keep adding qualifications, Mr. Foreman. I am not understanding the significance of the phrase ‘we are close’ ?
THE FOREMAN: I am sorry. We have not reached a decision on any of the other issues.
THE COURT: Do I take it from the way you phrase it that you think there is a possibility that you might be able to agree ?
THE FOREMAN: No, sir.
THE COURT: You used the phrase we are close. That is the reason I questioned that.
*99THE FOREMAN: Well, I was taking a count, sir, that we had used, and I don’t think the count is going to change.
THE COURT: All right. Now, gentlemen, any point in taking the verdict on the ones they have agreed on?
[DEFENSE COUNSEL]: No, Your Honor.
[ASSISTANT DISTRICT ATTORNEY]: Yes, Your Honor.
[DEFENSE COUNSEL]: No, Your Honor.
THE COURT: May I see that indictment, please?
(Court getting indictment from clerk.)
[DEFENSE COUNSEL] : May we approach the bench, Your Honor.
THE COURT: Surely.
(There is a side-bar conference.)
THE COURT: The Court in the exercise of its discretion hereby refuses to receive a verdict on part of these charges.
[ASSISTANT DISTRICT ATTORNEY]: Note my objection.
THE COURT: Overrule the objection of the district attorney. The objection of the district attorney to the failure to receive any verdict at all under the circumstances is overruled. We hereby declare a mistrial by reason of the failure of the jury to be able to agree to a unanimous verdict on all of the charges. It seems to me we have to be, and decide that we might get into an inconsistent position if we took only part of it.
We declare a mistrial, and we hereby continue the case. This jury is discharged from further duty in connection with this case.
(Court dismisses jury.)”
The above does not indicate a manifest necessity to declare a mistrial. The colloquy does not establish that *100further deliberations would be useless. Just one hour earlier, in terms less equivocal than those quoted immediately above, the jury foreman indicated that further deliberations would be useless, yet, considerable progress had been made in the intervening hour. In these circumstances, the trial court should have allowed the jury to continue its deliberations.
Finally, although the prosecution concedes that appellant neither moved for a mistrial, nor explicitly consented to the mistrial, it argues that appellant impliedly consented to the mistrial by objecting to a recording of the pretrial verdict and by failing to object after the mistrial was declared. There is nothing in the record, however, to indicate that appellant’s objection to the recording of the partial verdict was a consent to a mistrial rather than an indication of his desire that the jury be allowed to continue its deliberations. Furthermore, failure to object after the mistrial had been declared in the presence of the jury is irrelevant. Commonwealth v. Bartolomucci, 468 Pa. 338, 362 A.2d 234 (1976); Commonwealth v. Baker, 413 Pa. 105, 115, 196 A.2d 382, 387 (1964).
For these reasons, I would reverse the judgment of sentence and order appellant discharged.