Court Opinion

ID: 9760365
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 00:50:16.881797+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:29:11.191019
License: Public Domain

HOFFMAN, Judge,
concurring:
I agree with all but two aspects of Judge PRICE’S excellent and well-reasoned opinion. First, I do not consider “the *399absence of any action undertaken by the prosecutor to preserve the trial and to enhance the defendant’s prospects for a fair trial after the misconduct occurred” to be a relevant factor in determining the existence of bad faith intent on the part of the prosecutor. Majority op. at 661. I believe that a prosecutor’s urging that a mistrial not be granted after he has engaged in misconduct is totally irrelevant in determining whether he intended to provoke a mistrial or engaged in a bad faith effort to prejudice the defendant. Moreover, reliance on such a factor may encourage prosecutors whose deliberate misconduct provokes a motion for a mistrial to attempt to prevent a successful double jeopardy claim by vigorously arguing that a mistrial should not be granted.
My other disagreement with the majority concerns the necessity of deciding whether a prosecutor’s mere reference to a suppression hearing is a proper basis for granting a mistrial. As the majority notes, the question of whether the trial court abused its discretion in granting a mistrial is not before us; the issue is whether the double jeopardy clause forbids retrial. Although I have no objection to the propriety of considering whether the prosecutor’s misconduct seriously prejudiced appellants, I would not decide whether a mistrial should have been granted in this case. See id., majority op. at 663 n.17. Because that issue is not before us, I believe that this is an inappropriate case to decide whether the dictum in Commonwealth v. Rogers, 463 Pa. 399, 344 A.2d 892 (1975), which was quoted with approval in Commonwealth v. Willie, 246 Pa.Super. 400, 371 A.2d 899 (1977), should be followed. With the above-stated qualifications, I join in the majority opinion.