Court Opinion

ID: 9469585
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 02:44:21.314245+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:41:27.681446
License: Public Domain

NORRIS, Circuit Judge,
dissenting:
I respectfully dissent from part III of the majority’s opinion. I think a “rule of consistency” requires reversal of a defendant’s conviction when a jury is unable to reach a verdict on the defendant’s only possible co-conspirator.
The only justification I see for not following the rule of consistency is that Sangmeister should not benefit from the happenstance of a joint trial: had Jones and Sangmeister been tried separately, a hung jury for Jones might not have saved Sangmeister. Cf. United States v. Shipp, 359 F.2d 185, 189 (6th Cir.) (conspiracy conviction stands after severance of charges against co-conspirator), cert. denied, 385 U.S. 903, 87 S.Ct. 213, 17 L.Ed.2d 134 (1966). But this same reason would presumably justify rejection of the rule of consistency when a jury acquits one of two conspirators; yet an “acquittal of all but one of the alleged conspirators requires acquittal of the remaining defendant.” United States v. Patterson, 678 F.2d 774, 781 (9th Cir. 1982); cf. United States v. Socony-Vacuum Oil Co., 310 U.S. 150, 246, 60 S.Ct. 811, 854, 84 L.Ed. 1129 (1940) (dictum) (new trial for defendant’s co-conspirators requires new trial for defendant). Thus, the rule of consistency requires that when one of two conspirators is acquitted, the other is acquitted; when one of two conspirators receives a new trial because the verdict is set aside by the trial judge or on appeal, the other receives a new trial; it follows that when one of two conspirators receives a new trial because of a hung jury, the other should receive a new trial.
I agree with the majority that the jury’s inability to agree on Jones’ verdict technically “amounted neither to an acquittal nor a conviction.” Ante, at 1127. Thus, double jeopardy would not prevent reprosecution of Jones. But I do not agree that this makes it a “non-event” for all purposes. In *1128this case, at least one juror voted to acquit Jones and yet convict Sangmeister of conspiring with Jones. That is not a nonevent; it is an inconsistency which, for me, compels reversal of Sangmeister’s conviction if we are to apply the rule of consistency with consistency.