Court Opinion

ID: 9847922
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-24 04:10:01.399932+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:17:46.573183
License: Public Domain

VOGEL, Judge
(dissenting).
I regretfully dissent. I agree that each case turns on its own facts. In this case, I do not believe that the defendant concurred in the dismissal of the case against him, and I believe that he had a right to have the trial completed by the tribunal which commenced it. Since he once was in jeopardy, a dismissal without his consent cannot be followed by a retrial, in the absence of “manifest necessity” which in my view is not present here.
The holding of United States v. Jorn, 400 U.S. 470, 91 S.Ct. 547, 27 L.Ed.2d 543 (1971), is:
“ . . . where the judge, acting without the defendant’s consent, aborts the proceeding, the defendant has been deprived of his ‘valued right to have his trial completed by a particular tribunal.’ ”
The exact language of the ruling by the trial court in the present case is as follows :
“THE COURT: Exactly, I don’t see any other way out of it. It’s a drug which is prohibited if two things are shown. First, that it has a potential for abuse and that it’s a stimulant. Now, we don’t even have enough testimony here to show that it’s a stimulant.
“MR. BOSSART: He said it was.
“THE COURT: The drug in itself was but he didn’t know if it contained the quantity to. We have absolutely no testimony that it has a potential for abuse as a result of this stimulant. Those are the two things that had to be proven and we don’t have either one because the chemist said he can’t say the amount found would be a stimulant to a human being and we have absolutely no testimony that it has a potential for abuse. Did I hear a motion to dismiss? I’ll grant the motion for dismissal. The Defendant will be subject to discharge immediately.
“(Whereupon, the proceedings were concluded.)”
As in Jorn, “It is apparent from the record that no consideration was given to the possibility of a trial continuance; indeed, the trial judge acted so abruptly in discharging the jury that, had the prosecutor been disposed to suggest a continuance, or the defendant to object to the discharge of the jury, there would have been no opportunity to do so.”
I do not agree that the defendant here provoked the ruling of the court. He made a motion for only an “advisory verdict” of not guilty, a motion specifically permitted by statute [29-21-37, N.D.C.C., superseded since the trial of this case by adoption of Rule 29, N.D.R.Crim.P.]. I do not believe that making a perfectly proper and permissible motion can constitute a consent to the making of an improper and impermissible order. In this respect we have a close parallel with Jorn, where a proper defense motion asking the court to instruct witnesses as to their rights resulted in an unasked-for dismissal of the jury.
Nor do I believe that there is any “manifest necessity” here for the dismissal. In Illinois v. Somerville, 410 U.S. 458, 93 S.Ct. 1066, 35 L.Ed.2d 425 (1973), there was such a necessity because of a jurisdictional defect in the indictment which could not be cured except by a new indictment. But here, where we have already held that the *819lower court was in error in dismissing the case (quashing the information), there was no necessity, manifest or otherwise.
According to Jorn, when the defendant has not made a motion for mistrial, the court can dismiss and retry only when “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. See United States v. Perez, 9 Wheat., at 580.” Here, the ends of public justice would have been better served by a continuation of the proceedings.
I believe this is a case which (in the words of Chief Justice Burger, concurring in Jorn) “represents a plain frustration of the right to have [the defendant’s] case tried, attributable solely to the conduct of the trial judge. If the accused had brought about the erroneous mistrial ruling we would have had a different case, but this record shows nothing to take appellee’s claims outside the classic mold of being twice placed in jeopardy for the same offense.”
My view is, I believe, consistent with the dictum in State v. Panchuk, 53 N.D. 669, 207 N.W. 991 (1926), and the California cases upon which that dictum was based. We quoted in Panchuk:
“Once in actual jeopardy, a defendant becomes entitled to a verdict which may constitute a bar to a new prosecution; and he cannot be deprived of his right to a verdict by nolle prosequi entered by the prosecuting officer, or by a discharge of the jury, and continuance of the cause.” People v. Hunckeler, 48 Cal. 331, citing Cooley, Const.Limit. 327.
Recent California cases adhere to the same rule. Curry v. Superior Court, 2 Cal.3d 707, 87 Cal.Rptr. 361, 470 P.2d 345 (1970); Gonzalez v. Municipal Court for San Jose-Milpitas J. D., 32 Cal.App.3d 706, 108 Cal.Rptr. 612 (1973). Curry, in particular, is similar to the present case. The defense made a proper motion to caution the jury as to the effect of evidence, and the trial court went beyond the motion and dismissed the jury and scheduled a retrial. It was held that jeopardy had attached and that a new trial was not permissible.
I would so hold here. I would affirm the dismissal, not for the reason given by the trial court, which I agree was erroneous, but because the trial court’s dismissal without the consent of the defendant terminated the action after the defendant once was in jeopardy. There was no manifest necessity for the trial court’s decision, in my view, and again placing the defendant in jeopardy violates Section 13 of the North Dakota Constitution and the Fifth Amendment of the United States Constitution.