Court Opinion

ID: 9698689
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-25 19:57:39.494454+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:20:42.762391
License: Public Domain

*303DEL SOLE, Judge,
dissenting:
Today, the Majority determines that an Appellant’s double jeopardy rights would not be violated by a retrial, following a conviction, where that retrial was occasioned by the intentional misconduct of the District Attorney. I must respectfully dissent.
In the instant case the District Attorney’s Office actively concealed from Appellant and the trial court a sentencing arrangement made between the Commonwealth and its witness. The record establishes that this conduct was clearly intentional. Although this conduct was not intended to provoke a mistrial in order to avoid an acquittal it nevertheless deprived Appellant of a fair trial in order to secure a conviction. I find no functional difference between intentional misconduct, engaged in by the prosecution in order to avoid an acquittal by causing a mistrial and intentional misconduct, engaged in by the prosecution in concealing evidence, which results in a guilty verdict. In either case, the conduct of the prosecution once established, places the defendant twice in jeopardy for the same crime.
The Majority first concludes that the case of Oregon v. Kennedy, 456 U.S. 669, 102 S.Ct. 2083, 72 L.Ed.2d 416 (1982) does not apply to the instant fact situation and proceeds to a discussion of Pennsylvania law relying in part on Commonwealth v. Wallace, 500 Pa. 270, 455 A.2d 1187 (1983) . Without discussing whether or not Kennedy, is applicable, I believe that the Majority’s reliance on Wallace is misplaced and that Wallace in fact supports the position of the Appellant herein.
In Wallace the Supreme Court awarded the defendant a new trial based on the prosecutor’s failure to correct certain false testimony made by the Commonwealth’s chief witness. The prosecutor also failed to provide defense counsel with the witness’s complete criminal background and record. Following conviction, the defendant filed two motions, one requesting a new trial and one requesting discharge on double jeopardy grounds claiming the prosecutor’s actions were intentional. The Supreme Court, in a Majority Opin*304ion written by Justice Larsen, granted the defendant’s motion for a new trial and further determined that it was premature at this point to consider defendant’s request for discharge on the grounds of double jeopardy. That Court noted that the trial judge made no findings on whether the District Attorney’s Office performed mistakenly or that the acts were done intentionally and in bad faith. If the conduct was simply mistaken, the Court held that any harm caused by the error would be cured by a second trial. The Supreme Court went on to say that if the actions were undertaken intentionally, a subsequent prosecution would not cure the taint of the District Attorney’s conduct. The Court specifically held:
“Accordingly, our grant of a new trial is without prejudice to Appellant’s right to petition the lower court for discharge on double jeopardy grounds (this issue has been preserved throughout these proceedings) prior to reprosecution, if any, at which time the issue would be considered in light of all the evidence adduced at the after-discovered evidence hearing.” (Emphasis added)
Commonwealth v. Wallace, supra, 500 Pa. at 282, 455 A.2d at 1187. What the Wallace court did was to remand to the trial court, after granting a new trial, with instructions that the trial court made a determination whether the actions of the District Attorney’s Office were intentional and then consider the defendant’s motion to bar prosecution on double jeopardy grounds. In the instant case the determination of intentional misconduct by the District Attorney’s in concealing evidence has been established.
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s decision in Commonwealth v. Wallace, rendered nine months after the United States Supreme Court announced its decision in Oregon v. Kennedy, in my judgment establishes the criteria on whether or not double jeopardy prohibition will attach. The criteria is intentional misconduct, which is in keeping with my reading of Oregon v. Kennedy where the United States Supreme Court, when faced with a double jeopardy claim following the declaration of a mistrial held that:
*305“But we do hold that circumstances under which such defendant may invoke the bar of double jeopardy in a second effort to try him are limited to those cases in which the conduct giving rise to the successful motion for a mistrial was intended to provoke the defendant into moving for a mistrial.” (Emphasis supplied)
This standard, intentional action by the prosecutor, established by the Supreme Court of the United States in prosecutorial misconduct cases replaces the doctrine of “overreaching”. In Kennedy, the trial court granted the defendant’s motion for a mistrial after the prosecutor asked a witness an objectionable question. The Oregon Court of Appeals accepted the trial court’s finding that the prosecutor did not intend to cause a mistrial. Nevertheless, the Court of Appeals held the mistrial was barred because the prosecutor’s conduct constituted “overreaching”. The United States Supreme Court rejected this “overreaching” standard and instead found “intent” on the part of the prosecutor to be the determinative factor.
“By contrast, a standard that examines the intent of the prosecutor, though certainly not entirely free from practical difficulties, is a manageable standard to apply. It merely calls for the court to make a finding of fact. Inferring the existence or nonexistence of intent from objective facts and circumstances is a familiar process in our criminal justice system.”
Oregon v. Kennedy, supra, 102 S.Ct. at 2089.
The Majority believes that it is necessary for a mistrial to be declared before intentional conduct gives rise to a double jeopardy claim. I disagree. Here, had the concealment of evidence by the prosecutor been discovered during trial, a mistrial would have been declared. However, the prosecutor’s concealment prevented Appellant from making the necessary mistrial motion. If the motion were made, it would have been granted and double jeopardy would have applied. I find the distinction between the two situations, that presented here and that which would have occurred had a mistrial been granted, not so significant as to deprive *306Appellant of his double jeopardy claim. The test is intentional misconduct. Intentional misconduct which is concealed is surely no better than intentional misconduct which becomes evident during trial. A party’s rights should not be affected because a prosecutor was clever enough to hide his misconduct during the course of the trial.
Also, if the Majority’s view is adopted, a trial court when faced with a motion for mistrial, might be reluctant to grant same since it would give rise to a double jeopardy claim while a conviction and new trial would not. This eventuality is also one that was addressed in Kennedy, supra, and the United States Supreme Court sought to avoid such actions by establishing an intentional standard as opposed to “overreaching”.
It may be argued that the misconduct here can be corrected by a retrial, however, that would also be the case had a mistrial been declared and a retrial ensues. Since in the latter situation double jeopardy would prevent the retrial, I believe that it should also prevent it in the instant case.
It is my view that intentional misconduct by a prosecutor which either results in a mistrial or in a conviction and subsequent new trial are not functionally different and double jeopardy protection should apply.
POPOVICH, J., joins.