Court Opinion

ID: 9752441
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-28 18:08:12.028727+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:27:16.245621
License: Public Domain

Bois, J.,
dissenting: I disagree with that part of the decision which reverses the trial court in its declaration of a mistrial because of the jury’s inability to reach a verdict.
The law is clear that every time a defendant is put to trial before a competent jury, he is not entitled to go free if the trial ends in a mistrial. “Where, for reasons deemed compelling by the trial judge, who is best situated intelligently to make such a decision, the ends of substantial justice cannot be attained without discontinuing the trial, a mistrial may be declared without the defendant’s consent and even over his objection, and he may be retried consistently with the Fifth Amendment. (Citations omitted.) It is also clear that ‘[t]his Court has long favored the rule of discretion in the trial judge . . .’ and that we have consistently declined to scrutinize with sharp surveillance the exercise of that discretion.” Gori v. United States, 367 U.S. 364, 368 (1961).
In State v. Donovan, 120 N.H. 603, 419 A.2d 1102 (1980), we recently reaffirmed our faith in our trial court’s exercise of sound discretion. Accordingly, I can see no reason why, under the circumstances in this case, we should depart from our holding therein. To do so may inhibit the conscientious exercise of its judgment in finding that there is manifest necessity for the act, or that the ends of justice would otherwise be defeated.