Court Opinion

ID: 9738406
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 19:52:24.085188+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:24:05.975078
License: Public Domain

Coleman, J.
(dissenting). I disagree with the reasoning in support of my colleagues’ decision to set aside a guilty plea and dismiss defendant from court jurisdiction.
Two days into a joint trial, the prosecutor objected to a question by defendant’s counsel and made a motion for a mistrial. Although the prosecutor withdrew his objection and motion, codefendant Perkins demanded a mistrial, saying, "I feel that the harm done by this statement that was taken hinders any due process”. Defense counsel remained silent, neither objecting to nor requesting a mistrial, but saying "All I can say is I didn’t realize it was improper” and "I feel kind of small”.
Mistrial was granted. A second joint trial on the armed robbery charge was begun over defendant’s claim of double jeopardy. After the jury was impanelled, defendant pled guilty to an added count of assault with intent to rob and steal while being *446unarmed. (This was after his codefendant had pled guilty to the same charge.)
Now defendant claims (1) that the order of mistrial was improper, and (2) therefore, he could neither be tried on the original charge nor could he plead guilty to the reduced charge. He claims that the defense of double jeopardy is not waived by a plea of guilty.
This dissent is neither in agreement nor disagreement with the latter claim. Instead, it is directed to the conclusion that the order of mistrial was invalid in the first instance.
With the codefendant demanding mistrial, the judge had cause to believe that he could not win regardless of what he did. He chose to accede to codefendant’s motion for mistrial under the circumstances.
The majority would find that the judge chose erroneously and would free defendant.
The cases relied upon by the majority are inapposite. All refer to a prosecutor’s motion or a judge’s sua sponte declaration of mistrial.
For instance, the majority quotes from Gori v United States, 367 US 364; 81 S Ct 1523; 6 L Ed 2d 901 (1961), but does not relate the essence of that decision.
In Gori, defendant was in the first day of a jury trial when the judge, on his own motion, declared a mistrial. Defendant was silent, neither objecting nor approving. The Supreme Court stated that reasons for the mistrial were unclear although the trial judge may have acted because of questioning by the prosecutor bringing out other crimes of defendant. The Court agreed with the Court of Appeals in characterizing the judge’s action:
"In any event, it is obvious, as the Court of Appeals *447concluded, that the judge 'was acting according to his convictions in protecting the rights of the accused.’ 282 F2d, at 46. The court below did not hold the mistrial ruling erroneous or an abuse of discretion. It did find the prosecutor’s conduct unexceptionable and the reason for the mistrial, therefore, not 'entirely clear’. It did say that 'the judge should have awaited a definite question which would have permitted a clear-cut ruling’, and that, in failing to do so, he displayed an 'overzealousness’ and acted 'too hastily’. Id., at 46, 48.”
Gori, supra, at 366.
The Court commented on the role of the trial judge in declaring a mistrial re Fifth Amendment concerns:
"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.
"It is also clear that 'This Court has long favored the rule of discretion in the trial judge to declare a mistrial and to require another panel to try the defendant if the ends of justice will be best served * * * ,’ Brock v North Carolina, 344 US 424, 427 [73 S Ct 349; 97 L Ed 456, 459 (1953)] and that we have consistently declined to scrutinize with sharp surveillance the exercise of that discretion. ’’(Emphasis added.)
Gori, supra, at 368.
Gori states the better rule to follow under the instant facts which are distinguishable from those leading to the conclusion as to that defendant. Here codefendants are involved rather than a single defendant, and the codefendant made the motion for mistrial rather than the judge sua *448sponte. Further, the rationale of Gori carries over to the instant case: (1) The trial judge is best situated to make a decision on whether a mistrial is necessary to achieve the ends of justice. (2) Although the mistrialAvas not "in the sole interest of the defendant”, Johnson, there were two defendants and the codefendant was equally interested. He demanded a mistrial, so the trial judge could reasonably find that the ends of justice required a mistrial. (3) Although reference to a polygraph may not be reversible error in every case, the judge’s declaration of a mistrial would at least appear to be the product of the trial judge’s solicitude and in the sole interest of the defendants.
Moreover, the general underlying rationale for defense of double jeopardy does not exist in the instant case.
"The underlying idea, one that is deeply ingrained in at least the Anglo-American system of jurisprudence, 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.” (Emphasis added.)
Green v United States, 355 US 184, 187-188; 78 S Ct 221, 223; 2 L Ed 2d 199, 204 (1957).
"Judicial wisdom counsels against anticipating hypothetical situations in which the discretion of the trial judge may be abused and so call for the safeguard of the Fifth Amendment — cases in which the defendant would be harrassed by successive, oppressive prosecutions, or in which a judge exercises his authority to help the prosecution, at a trial in which its case is *449going badly, by affording it another, more favorable opportunity to convict the accused. ”(Emphasis added.)
Gori, supra, at 369.
In the instant case, the mistrial was declared on motion of the codefendant, not the prosecutor.
In an eifort to avoid reversal on appeal, the trial judge in the instant case may have "bent over backwards” on behalf of the defendants in declaring a mistrial. However, careful judges are learning that they cannot be too careful — or can they?
Justice Frankfurter’s comment in Gori at 369 applies equally to the majority opinion in the instant case:
"[W]e are unwilling, where it clearly appears that a mistrial has been granted in the sole interest of the defendant, to hold that its necessary consequence is to bar all retrial. It would hark back to the formalistic artificialities of seventeenth century criminal procedure so to confine our federal trial courts by compelling them to navigate a narrow compass between Scylla and Charybdis.” (Emphasis added.)
In the recent case of United States v Dinitz, — US —; 96 S Ct 1075; 47 L Ed 2d 267 (1976), defendant was represented by several attorneys. The trial judge excluded the attorney in charge of the trial because of his repeated improper actions during the opening statement. The judge set three alternatives for the defendant: (1) stay or recess pending Court of Appeals review on expulsion of the attorney; (2) continuation of the trial with the remaining attorneys, or (3) declaration of a mistrial so defendant could get new counsel. A remaining attorney moved for a mistrial after consulting with defendant. It was not opposed by the prosecutor and was granted by the judge.
*450Before the second trial, defendant unsuccessfully moved for dismissal of the indictment on double jeopardy grounds. His subsequent conviction was reversed by the Court of Appeals on double jeopardy grounds because defendant was given no choice but to ask for a mistrial. The Court of Appeals treated the case as a declaration of mistrial over defendant’s objection, ignoring his request for mistrial. Therefore, it was said that double jeopardy barred the second trial because there was no manifest necessity.
The United States Supreme Court reversed, holding that defendant did request a mistrial.
The Court of Appeals had based its holding on a waiver theory, saying that when defendant requests a mistrial he waives his right to be tried by the first jury. Therefore, it was said that defendant did not voluntarily waive because the trial judge did not present enough alternatives — he was left with no choice other than mistrial.
The Supreme Court held that the waiver theory does not apply — defendant is always faced with a "Hobson’s choice” in deciding whether to respond to judicial or prosecutorial error with a mistrial request. He must give up the first jury or continue in a trial which may contain error. The Court said that the inquiry should be whether "defendant retains primary control over the course to be followed in the event of such error”. Dinitz, supra, at 431. (Emphasis added.)
Dinitz is not on "all fours” with the instant case, but the cases are similar because the complaining defendant’s attorney in each case committed possible error during trial. In Dinitz, the judge took his action upon objection from the prosecutor and a resulting request for mistrial by defendant. In the instant case, the trial judge declared a mistrial at the request of the codefendant.
*451However, the basic theory of Dinitz applies equally to the instant appeal.
We must examine the circumstances surrounding the declaration of mistrial to discover whether defendant had primary control. Defendant’s attorney asked the objectionable question, codefendant’s attorney strongly objected and asked for a mistrial, and defendant’s attorney essentially apologized, saying, "[a]ll I can say is I didn’t realize it was improper” and, "I feel kind of small”. The court, on these facts, could find that defendant consented to the mistrial. Defendant had interests similar to those of the objecting codefendant and he apologized for the problem caused by his own question. Considering these facts, defendant had control over the events and, in the absence of a specific objection or denial of error at the time, the trial court could properly determine that defendant joined with the codefendant in seeking a mistrial.
The majority opinion states that "defendant must therefore do something positively in order to indicate he or she is exercising that primary control”. However, Dinitz contains no such language. The proper inquiry, simply stated, is whether defendant had primary control. A reviewing court may examine the totality of the circumstances in considering whether such control existed. The totality of the instant facts reveal control. Defendant need not raise a red flag.
Finally, we note comments by the United States Supreme Court concerning the result which Justice William’s opinion inevitably brings about:
"[It] * * * undermines rather than furthers the protections of the Double Jeopardy Clause. In the event of severely prejudicial error a defendant might well consider an immediate new trial a preferable alternative to the prospect of a probable conviction followed by an *452appeal, a reversal of the conviction, and a later retrial. Yet the Court of Appeals’ decision, in effect, instructs trial judges to reject the most meritorious mistrial motion in the absence of manifest necessity and to require, instead, that the trial proceed to its conclusion despite a legitimate claim of seriously prejudicial error. For if a trial judge follows that course, the Double Jeopardy Clause will present no obstacle to a retrial if the conviction is set aside by the trial judge or reversed on appeal. United States v Ball, 163 US 662.” Id.
In this case, it also results in one codefendant convicted and another released after guilty pleas by each to identical offenses. Gamesmanship prevailed again.
I would affirm the conviction.
Fitzgerald, J., concurred with Coleman, J.