# Jurisdictional Statement — Crist v. Bretz

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## Record

- **Collection:** Supreme Court brief
- **Document type:** Jurisdictional Statement
- **Published:** January 1, 1978
- **Citation:** 437 U.S. 28

## Text

Supreme Court of the Auited States

October Term, 1976

wo. 76 1200

AY

ROGER CRIST, as Warden of the Montana State Peni-
tentiary, Deer Lodge, Montana, and John Moe, as Sheriff
of Missoula County, Montana, STATE OF MONTANA,

Appellant,
vs.
MERREL CLINE and L. R. BRETZ,
Appellees.

1
vr

Appeal from the United States Court of Appeals
for the Ninth Circuit

—

JURISDICTIONAL STATEMENT

sy
VU

MIKE GREELY
Attorney General of Montana

ROBERT S. KELLER
Special Assistant Attorney General

State Capitol
Helena, Montana 59601

Counsel for Appellant

— ͤ — — . —B[t — ͤ—ͤ ͥ —¾C: q —gᷣͤ —
COCKLE PRINTING CO., 1822 St. Mary's Ave., Omaha

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Pages
Opinion Below 2
Jurisdiction 2
Questions Presented 4
Statement of the Case 5
The Questions Presented are Substantial . 7
Conclusion 11
Appendix A—Court of Appeals Opinion 1 13
Appendix B—District Court Opinion 42
Appendix C Notice of Appeal 4
Appendix D—Revised Codes of Montana 93-711 35

TABLE OF AUTHORITIES

Apodaca v. Oregon, 406 U. S. 404, 92 S. Ct. 1628,

32 L. Ed. 2d 184 (1972) 10
Benton v. Maryland, 395 U. S. 784, 89 S. Ct. 2056,

23 L. Ed. 2d 707 (1969) 7
Breed v. Jones, 44 L. Ed. 2d 346 (1975) 9
Bretz v. Sheriff, 539 P. 2d 1191 (1975) 5
Cunningham, et al. v. Montana, 406 F. Supp. 430

5 SS een a eee
Downum v. U. S., 372 U. S. 734, 83 S. Ct. 1033.

10 L. Ed. 2d 100 Shale . 7,8

ii

TABLE OF AUTHORITIES—Continued

Pages

Dutton v. Evans, 400 U. S. 74, 76 (1970) 0.8

Illinois v. Sommerville, 410 U. S. 184 (1973) 8,9
Johnson v. Louisiana, 406 U. S. 356, 92 S. Ct. 1620,

rr =. 10

McCarthy v. Zerbst, 85 F. 2d 640, 642 (CA 10, 1936) 8
Serfass v. U. S., 420 U. S. 377, 43 L. Ed. 2d 265

(1975) . ee 7, 8
State v. Padilla, 483 P. 2d 549 (Ariz. 1971) 404
I — 3 9

United Gas Pipe Line Co. v. Ideal Cement Co., 369
U. S. 134 (1961) * —

U. S. v. Jorn, 400 U. S. 470 (1970) 1

Wade v. Hunter, 336 U. S. 684, 688 (1949) 8
Watson v. Employers Liability Assur. Corp., 348

U. S. 66 (1954); 348 U. S. 921 (1954) 3
Williams v. Florida, 399 U. S. 78, 90 S. Ct. 1893,

28 L. Ed. 2d 446 (19770) 10

STATUTES INVOLVED

Section 95-1711 (3) (d) R. C. M. 1970˖5ʒ5ʒ7 3, 4
II. 3
U.& Ce. Rules 13 (3), (üͤ—7T

CONSTITUTION INVOLVED

Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitu-
— ta ate atecla ee ̃] ̃ KA. 0 ˙—1ßſ.

ROGER CRIST, as Warden of the Montana State Peni-
tentiary, Deer Lodge, Montana, and John Moe, as Sheriff
of Missoula County, Montana, STATE OF MONTANA,

Appellant,
vs.
MERREL CLINE and L. R. BRETZ,
Appellees.

*
1

Appeal from the United States Court of Appeals
for the Ninth Circuit

S*\

JURISDICTIONAL STATEMENT

ra’
.
*

The Appellant, pursuant to United States Supreme
Court Rules 13 (2) and 15, files this statement of the basis
upon which it is contended that the Supreme Court of the
United States has jurisdiction on a direct appeal to review
the final judgment in question and should exercise such jur-
isdietion in this case.

°

2

OPINIONS BELOW

The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Cir-
cuit on November 19, 1976 decided and filed its written
opinion, which is not yet reported. A copy of the opinion
is attached to this Jurisdictional Statement as Appendix
A. The above opinion reversed and remanded the prior
judgment of the District Court, the opinion of which is
reported in 406 F. Supp. 430 (1975), and attached to this
statement as Appendix B.

JURISDICTION

After conviction on a charge of Obtaining Money by
False Pretenses, Bretz and Cline filed Petitions for Writs
of Habeas Corpus in the United States District Court for
the District of Montana, Billings Division. On December
31, 1975 the Honorable James F. Battin denied the peti-
tions. Notices of Appeal to the Ninth Cireuit Court of
Appeals were filed by Bretz and Cline in January 1976.
That Court, on appeal, reversed the decision of the District
Court.

The appeal herein is from a final judgment decided
and filed by the United States Court of Appeals for the
Ninth Circuit on November 19, 1976, which held that a sec-
ond prosecution brought against appellees herein violated
the double jeopardy clause of the Fifth Amendment to the
United States Constitution. The Court concluded that fed-
eral law, not state statute, determined when jeopardy at-

3

taches and that therefore defendants-appellees had twice
been placed in jeopardy despite the fact that under Mon-
tana law, Section 95-1711 (3) (d), Revised Codes of Mon-
tana, 1947, jeopardy did not attach in the initial prosecu-
tion.

The Supreme Court of the United States has jurisdic-
tion to review by direct appeal the opinion complained of
by the provisions of 28 USC See. 1254 (2).

The following decisions sustain the jurisdiction of the
Supreme Court to review the opinion on direct app al in
this case. Dutton v. Evans, 400 U. S. 74, 76 (1970); United
Gas Pipe Line Company v. Ideal Cement Company, 369
U. S. 134 (1961) ; Watson v. Employers Liability Assurance
Corp., 348 U. S. 66 (1954), rehearing denied 348 U. S. 921
(1954).

The paragraph of the statute of the State of Montana
found to be in violation of the Fifth Amendment is:

Section 95-1711 (3) (d), Revised Codes of Montana,
1947.

“The former prosecution was improperly terminated.
Except as provided in this subsection, there is an im-
proper termination of a prosecution if the termina-
tion is for reasons not amounting to an acquittal, and
it takes place after the first witness is sworn but be-
fore verdict. Termination under any of the follow-
ing circumstances is not improper:

(i) the defendant consents to the termination or
waives his right to object to the termination; or

(ii) the trial court, in the exercise of its disere-
tion, finds that the termination is necessary because:

(A) it is physically impossible to proceed with
the trial in conformity with law; or

(B) there is a legal defect in the proceedings
which would make any judgment entered upon a ver-
diet reversible as a matter of law; or

(C) prejudicial conduct, in or outside the court-
room, makes it impossible to proceed with the trial
without manifest injustice to either the defendant or
the state; or

(D) the jury is unable to agree upon a verdict;
or

(E) false statements of a juror or voir dire pre-
vent a fair trial.”
The entire text of this statute is contained in Appendix
D.

Notice of Appeal was filed with the Ninth Cireuit
Court of Appeals on December 13, 1976, a copy of which
is contained in Appendix C.

.
*

QUESTIONS PRESENTED

1. Can Montana determine by statute that jeopardy
attaches in a trial when the first witness is sworn, or must
it conform to the Federal Procedural Rules which establish
the swearing of the jury as the point at which jeopardy
attaches?

2. Or, is Section 95-1711 of the Revised Codes of
Montana, 1947, constitutional in light of the double jeop-
ardy provisions of the Fifth Amendment to the United
States Constitution?

5

3. Assuming that this Court were to hold that jeop-
ardy attaches in state proceedings when the jury is sworn,
does the doctrine of manifest necessity” nevertheless re-
quire that a trial be held?

STATEMENT OF THE CASE

The Information No. 3921 in this matter was filed on
October 3, 1974, in Lewis and Clark County, State of Mon-
tana, charging Bretz and Cline with the commission of
nine felonies. On March 13, 1975, a jury was empanelled
and sworn; no witnesses were sworn. The trial court then
dismissed three counts for failure to state an offense, in
that due to a typographical error, the date of commission
read “1974” rather than ‘‘1973”’. (And, unfortunately, the
Montana Criminal Code of 1973 took effect January 1,
1974, i. e., the charging statute was repealed on that date.)
The state filed and the State District Court granted a mo-
tion to dismiss the remaining counts on April 4, 1975, be-
fore any witnesses were sworn; a second Information, No.
3963, alleging the commission of two felonies by Bretz and
Cline was filed on the same day. Defendants’ motions
to dismiss on the grounds of double jeopardy were filed on
April 25, 1975, and the State District Court denied them
on May 1, 1975. Bretz filed a Petition for Habeas Corpus
with the Supreme Court of Montana alleging double jeop-
ardy. This was denied by that Court on July 23, 1975.
Bretz v. Sheriff, (1975) 539 P. 2d 1191. On September 2,
1975, the Supreme Court denied a rehearing. A trial com-

6

menced in the State District Court of the First Judicial
District on June 16, 1975, and on July 2, 1975 Bretz and
Cline were found guilty of Obtaiaing Money by False
Pretenses—one of the same counts that had been dis-
missed in the earlier proceeding by the trial court because
of a typographical error.

Bretz and Cline filed Petitions for Writs of Hal eas
Corpus in the United States District Court for the District
of Montana, Billings Division, and the matters were or-
dered consolidated with that of a similar petition filed by
Clancy Cunningham. On December 31, 1975, the Honorable
James F. Battin denied the petitions. Cunningham, et al.
v. Montana, 406 F. Supp. 430 (D. Mt., 1975).

Notices of Appeal to the Ninth Circuit Court of Ap-
peals were filed by Bretz and Cline on January 7 and 9,
1976 respectively. The matters were again consolidated.
In their opinion filed November 19, 1976, the Court re-
versed the lower court ruling that the state statute did not
control when jeopardy attached in the first proceeding and
that under federal law the defendants had twice been
placed in jeopardy in violation of the Fifth Amendment.
The Court went on to reverse the other part of the lower
court’s decision which held that even if jeopardy had at-
tached the doctrine of “manifest necessity” required that
the trial be held. On December 13, 1976 the appellants
herein duly filed their Notice of Appeal.

0

—

7

Appellants submit that the judgment below presents
substantial questions warranting the acceptance of this
action. The Ninth Cireuit Court of Appeals’ opinion rules
that it is constitutionally impermissible for the separate
states to establish rules governing when jeopardy attaches
which vary in any degree past the time established in the
Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure. The Montana stat-
ute in question provides that jeopardy attaches when the
first witness is sworn as opposed to the federal rule which
uses the point at which the jury is sworn. Substantively
speaking, the two rules are of little or no difference.

This Court has not previously addressed the issue now
presented. There is no question but that Fifth Amend-
ment rights apply to the states as incorporated in the
Fourteenth Amendment. Benton v. Maryland, (1969) 395
U. S. 784, 23 L. Ed. 2d 707, 89 S. Ct. 2056. However, Ben-
ton did not hold that all states, Montana included, must
follow the identical procedures as those set forth for use
in federal courts in order to protect Fifth Amendment sub-
stantive rights in state courts.

Likewise, later Supreme Court cases have not had
occasion to address themselves to this issue. Serfass v.
United States, (1975) 420 U. S. 377, 43 L. Ed. 2d 265 con-
cerned a federal district court—there were no state pro-
ceedings involved and the Court never addressed itself to
the issue presently before this Court. Downum v. U. S.,
(1963) 372 U. S. 734, 10 L. Ed. 2d 100, 83 S. Ct. 1033 did
involve a question of double jeopardy arising after a jury
was empaneled and sworn and before the first witness was

called. But Downum went to the question of “manifest
necessity”, for every case arising in Federal Courts as-
sumes without question, that the Federal rule applies, i. e.,
jeopardy “attaches” after the jury is empaneled and sworn.
Since Downum was a case where a jury had been sworn,
but no witness called, Downum is cited for the authority
for the rule. But Downum did not question the rule.

Serfass, supra, gets closer to the point, in an effort to
determine if jeopardy had attached before a jury had been
called,

“As an aid to the decision of cases in which the pro-
hibition of the Double Jeopardy Clause has been in-
voked, the courts have found it useful to define a point
in criminal proceedings at which the constitutional
purposes and policies are implicated by resort to the
concept of ‘attachment of jeopardy’. See United States
v. Jorn, supra, at 480. In the case of a jury trial,
jeopardy attaches when a jury is empaneled and sworn.
Downum v. United States, 372 U. S. 734 (1963); IM.
nois v. Somerville, 410 U. S. 458 (1973). In a nonjury
trial, jeopardy attaches when the court begins to hear
evidence. McCarthy v. Zerbst, 85 F. 2d 640, 642 (CA
10 1936). See Wade v. Hunter, 336 U. S. 684, 688
(1949). The Court has consistently adhered to the
view that jeopardy does not attach, and the constitu-
tional prohibition can have no application, until a de-
fendant is ‘put to trial before the trier of the facts,
whether the trier be a jury or a judge’. United States
v. Jorn, supra, at 479.”,

at p. 388. Significantly, jeopardy attaches, in a non-jury
case, after the first witness is sworn.

In L. S. „. Jorn (1970), 400 C. S. 470, the Court held
that jeopardy had already attached in a Federal District
Court at a point in time after a witness had already testi-

fied. Again there was no mention of anything relevant to
the issue presently before this Court.

In Breed v. Jones (1975), 44 L. Ed. 2d 346, the United
States Supreme Court did not render any blanket holding
to the effect that a state could not decide at what point
jeopardy atiached. The Court addressed itself to the is-
sue of whether a juvenile court adjudication constituted
a ‘‘trial’’—thereby establishing double jeopardy due to
a subsequent adult trial for the same offense. The Court
addressed itself primarily to the unique nature of juvenile
proceedings, and to the legal rights of juveniles, and con-
cluded that such a proceeding was, in fact, like a trial—
and jeopardy attached. Nowhere in the opinion does the
court categorically assert that a state cannot determine
at what point a trial commences. More interestingly, no-
where does the Court even attempt to impose any federal
procedural rule upon the California juvenile courts. The
sole concern in Breed, as it is in the instant case, is not
whether federal procedures were followed, but: were fed-
erally-guaranteed rights violated. In Breed, a young man
was, in fact, tried twice for the same offense and found
culpable both times; in the instant case, Appellant was
tried but one time.

Illinois v. Somerville, (1973), 410 U. S. 184 con-
cerned a state trial in circumstances where jeopardy had
clearly attached under a state rule which was the same
as the federal rule.

In the case of State v. Padilla, 483 P. 2d 549 (Ariz.
1971), cert. den., 404 U. S. 1049 (1972), the exact issue
involved here was directly addressed by the Arizona Su-
preme Court. They ruled in accordance with Montana's

10

position on this appeal. However, at that time this Court
denied certiorari and thus the question remains without
Supreme Court resolution.

With respect to other Amendments within the Bill
of Rights, this Court has been careful to distinguish be-
tween substantive rights and procedures. For instance,
in Apodaca v. Oregon, 406 U. S. 404, 92 S. Ct. 1628, 32 L.
Ed. 2d 184 (1972) and Johnson v. Louisiana, 406 U. S. 356,
92 S. Ct. 1620, 32 L. Ed. 2d 152 (1972), this Court ruled
that it was constitutionally permissible for the states to
require less than jury unanimity for a conviction notwith-
standing the fact that federal procedure requires a unani-
mous verdict.

Similarily, this Court has ruled that a state can pro-
vide for juries of less than twelve persons—again in con-
travention of existing federal rules. Williams v. Florida,
399 U. S. 78, 90 S. Ct. 1893, 26 L. Ed. 2d 446 (1970).

A question to be resolved then is whether the Fifth
Amendment application to the separate states requires
them to adopt federal procedures and that it is not enough
that the state procedure preserves the constitutional ob-
jectives. From a practical standpoint a defendant receives
no less protection under Montana’s statute, and similar
statutes in other states, than he would under the Federal
rule since the swearing of the jury and the swearing of
the first witness occur at nearly the same time.

It is submitted that the decision of the Ninth Circuit
here being appealed represents an unprecedented and
unnecessary restriction on the rights of the State of Mon-
tana to adopt criminal procedures at variance with federal

E

11

procedures as long as those procedures preserve the ap-
plicable constitutional objectives.

CONCLUSION

It is submitted that the questions raised herein are of
vital importance, not only to Montana, but to many of the
separate states. The questions submitted are substantial
and present to this court far reaching issues of the most
vital public importance that must be answered.

DATED: February 15, 1977.

Respectfully submitted,

Attorney General of the State of Montana
By /s/ Rosert S. Keiier

Special Assistant Attorney General

State Capitol
Helena, Montana 59601

Counsel for Appellant

Counsel for Appellees:

Charles F. Moses, Esq.
Box 1913
Billings, Montana 59103

W. W. Leaphart, Esq.

1 Last Chance Gulch
Helena, Montana 59601

13

APPENDIX A

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT

No. 76-1572
L. R. BRETZ,

Petitioner-Appellant,
vs.

ROGER CRIST, ete., et al.,
Respondent-Appellee.
No. 76-1169
OPINION
MERREL CLINE,

| Petitioner-A»pellant,
vs.

THE STATE OF MONTANA, ete., et al.,
Respondent-Appellee.
[November 18, 1976]

On Appeal from the Federal District Court, District
of Montana, Billings Division

Before: CHAMBERS, Chief Judge, TUTTLE® and
KILKENNY, Cireuit Judges.
TUTTLE, Cireuit Judge:
The tension between federalism and the doctrine of
selective incorporation of Bill of Rights guarantees via the
Fourteenth Amendment inevitably generates appeals such

* Honorable Elbert P. Tuttle, Senior Judge, U.S. Court of Ap
peals, Fifth Circuit, sitting by designation.

14 ‘

as this. Appellants contend that a second prosecution
brought against them by the State of Montana violated the
double jeopardy clause of the Fifth Amendment as applied
to the states through the due process clause of the Four-
teenth Amendment. In denying their petition for habeas
corpus, following conviction at the second trial, the United
States District Court for the District of Montana agreed
with the state that state, not federal, law determines when
jeopardy attaches and therefore under the controlling Mon-
tana statute appellants had not been put in jeopardy by
the first prosecution; and, in the alternative, that federal
standards for re-prosecution following a declaration of
mistrial had been met. Cunningham v. District Court, 406
F. Supp. 430, 432-434 (D. Mont. 1975) (consolidated case).

I. A TALE OF TWO TRIALS

The evidence at the trial would justify finding that ap-
pellants Bretz and Cline concocted a fraudulent scheme to
obtain workmen’s compensation payments as beneficiaries
of one Wampole, deceased. The plan’s particulars were
not illuminated on appeal, but it appears that appellants
filed a claim with the Montana Workmen’s Compensation
Division, alleging that Wampole was an employee of Cour-
tesy Mobile Home Transporting, Inc.; that he suffered a
fatal injury in the course of his employment; and that they
were entitled to benefits on his behalf. Appellants pre-
pared and submitted three different documents to the
Workmen’s Compensation Division: a “Claim for Com-
pensation ;’’ an “Employer’s First Report of Occupational
Injury or Disease;” and a ‘‘Petition for Compromise
Settlement.” Based on these documents, the Division paid
a settlement of $5400 to the appellants.

15

A. The Charges.

Claiming that Wampole had never been employed by
Courtesy, and had not been fatally injured in the course
of his alleged employment, the state filed a nine-count in-
formation on October 3, 1974. The state leveled the fol-

lowing charges against the appellants:

(1) Count I contended that the entire scheme consti-
tuted grand larceny in violation of Rev. Cope or Mon-
TANA § 94-2701 (1) (1948), and specified that the offend-
ing conduct occurred between January 13, 1973 and

February 19, 1974.

(2) Count II also applied to the entire scheme, and
maintained that appellants committed the crime of ob-
taining money and property by false pretenses in vio-
lation of Rev. Cope or Montana § 94-1805 (1947). Due
to a typographical error, however, the information spe-
cified that the offending conduct occurred between
January 13, 1974 and February 19, 1974.

(3) Counts III through VIII fragmented' appellants’
conduct into three instances of preparing false evi-
dence in violation of Rev. Cope or Montana § 94-1703
(1947) and three instances of offering false evidence
in violation of Rev. Cope or Montana § 94-1701 (1947).
Each of the three documents submitted by appellants
to the Division anchored a pair of offenses. Thus, the
“Claim for Compensation” was the basis for charges of
preparing false evidence and offering false evidence

1 “There is probably some correlation between the slighting of
{the interest of society in preventing the guilty from going un-
punished] and the development of rules allowing a liberal splitting
of offenses . . . when one slip may result in total immunity from
prosecution . the temptation to multiply the number of bites at
the apple may become irresistible.” Note, Double Jeopardy: The
Reprosecution Problem, 77 Harv. L. Rev. 1272, 1274 (1964); see
Johnson v. Commonwealth, 201 Ky. 314, 256 S. W. 338 (1923) (each
of 75 hands of poker a separate offense).

16

between the dates of February 5, 1973 and February
13, 1973 (Counts III and IV); the “Employer’s First
Report” was the basis for similar charges of criminal
conduct during the period March 19, 1973 to March 22,
1973 (Counts V and VI); and the “Petition for Com-
promise Settlement” was the basis for similar charges
of criminal conduct during the period January 30, 1974
to February 1, 1974 (Counts VII and VIII).

(4) Count IX returned to the entire scheme and al-
leged that the appellants’ conduct amounted to present-
ing false proofs upon a policy of insurance in violation
of Rev. Cope or Montana § 942202 (1947), the of-
fending activity supposedly having occurred between
January 13, 1973 and February 19, 1974.

B. The First Prosecution

The following facts are conclusively established by the
record. On March 10, 1975, counsel for the state and for
appellants answered ready in the state trial court. On
March 12, 1975, before voir dire had been completed, the
trial court granted the state’s motion to dismiss Count IX
of the information (presenting false proofs upon a policy
of insurance). On March 13, 1975, a jury was impaneled
and sworn. Before opening statements and before any
evidence had been offered, the jury was excused as defense
counsel presented several motions to the court. The most
important of these motions sought to restrict the state’s
evidence to the allegations of the information. This tacti-
cal stroke was aimed at Count II (obtaining money and
property by false pretenses): the information mistakenly
charged that the conduct constituting this offense had oc-
curred between January 13, 1974 and February 19, 1974,
but the relevant statutory provision, Rev. Cope or Mon-

17

TANA § 94-1805 (1947), had been repealed effective January
1, 1974.

The state resisted this attempt to excise Count II from
its case, and on March 21, 1975, moved to amend Count II
to correct the typographical error. On March 24, 1974,
the trial court denied this motion and sua sponte dismissed
Count II for failing to state an offense. After the Mon-
tana Supreme Court declined to grant the state’s petition
for a writ of supervisory control, the state returned to the
trial court and moved to dismiss the remaining counts in
order to “file a new and different information.” The trial
court granted the motion for this “limited purpose” and
discharged the jury on April 4, 1975.

C. The Second Prosecution

On the same day that the trial court dismissed the first
information, the state filed a second, two-count information.
Count I accused the appellants of grand larceny, and
tracked the language of Count I of the original informa-
tion. Count II charged them with obtaining money and
property by false pretenses, and corrected the typographi-
eal error that had flawed the original information. A new
jury was impaneled, appellants’ motion to dismiss on
grounds that the prosecution placed them twice in jeop-
ardy was denied, and appellants were found guilty of ob-
taining money and property by false pretenses. After ex-
hausting available state postconviction remedies, appel-

18

lants sought and were denied habeas corpus relief by the
district court.
II. ATTACHMENT OF JECPARDY

Before 1969, the Supreme Court employed different
eriteria to test the constitutional permissibility of reprose-
eutions by state and federal authorities. Even though
double state trials, might run afoul of Fifth Amendment
barriers to federal reprosecutions, the Fourteenth Amend-
ment was thought to pose no constitutional obstacle to state
retrials unless the proceedings exposed the accused to
“that kind of double jeopardy [which creates] a hardship
so acute and shocking that our polity will not endure itj’
Palko v. Connecticut, 302 U. S. 319, 328 (1937). In Ben-
ton v. Maryland, 395 U. S. 784, 794 (1969), however, the
Supreme Court eschewed Palko’s “approach to basie con-
stitutional rights,” and found “that the double jeopardy
prohibition of the Fifth Amendment represents a funda-
mental ideal in our constitutional heritage, and that it
should apply to the States through the Fourteenth
Amendment.” The question in Benton was whether an
accused who successfully appeals a conviction may be re-
prosecuted not only for the offense of which he was con-

19

vieted, e. g., North Carolina v. Pearce, 395 U. S. 711, 719-20
(1969) (no Fifth Amendment bar to state retrial on same
charge when defendant appeals and wins reversal), but
also for an offense of which he was acquitted at the first
trial. Relying on federal precedents, the Benton court held
that the acquittal could not be reopened, and based its
derivative holding on the proposition that “[o]nce it is
decided that a particular Bill of Rights guarantee is ‘fun-
damental! to the American scheme of justice,“ . . the same
constitutional standards apply against both the State and
Federal Governments.” 395 U. S. at 795.

A. A Question of Lawmaking Competence

An arithmetical as well as constitutional precondition
to being “subject for the same offense to be twice put in
jeopardy of life or limb,” U. S. Cowsr. amend. v, is to be
once put in jeopardy. Hence the theory of attachment of
jeopardy, admittedly an attempt at reification, but never-
theless serving to signify that point in the state’s efforts
to secure a conviction when the interests protected by the
double jeopardy clause are sufficiently implicated to war-
rant barring a second prosecution absent special counter-
vailing considerations. If the state rule—that jeopardy
does not attach until “after the first witness is sworn,”
Rev. Cope or Mowrtana, § 95-1711 (3) (d) (1947)—is con-
trolling, then petitioners were never put in jeopardy by
the first prosecution and their second trial a fortiori could
not have contravened the constitutional command. See
Alexander v. Fogliani, 375 F. 2d 733, 734 (9th Cir. 1967)
(no double jeopardy violation where, because jury had not
been impaneled, jeopardy could not have attached). But

20

if the federal rule—that jeopardy attaches when a jury is
impaneled and sworn, e. g., Downum v. United States, 372
U. S. 734, 735-36 (1963)—is of constitutional dimension,
then jeopardy attached at the first trial and unless the mis-
trial declaration was consonant with the “manifest neces-
sity” doetrine, see Part III imfra, the second trial
was constitutionally impermissible. The threshold ques-
tion is thus whether the federal attachment of jeopardy
rule is a product of constitutional exegesis or simply a
nonconstitutional consequence of the Supreme Court’s su-
pervisory power over federal courts and federal officials.

We reject at the outset the notion that while the double
jeopardy clause constrains reprosecutions by the states, it
countenaneces different constitutional applications in state
and federal courts. To be sure, this double-barreled incor-
poration doctrine can claim its supporters,“ but it has
never commanded a majority of the Supreme Court. Each
time the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment
has been interpreted to encompass a particular guarantee
of the Bill of Rights, the Court has explicitly reaffirmed
the proposition that the same constitutional norms are to
be employed in assessing the conduct of state and federal
authorities. E. g., Ker v. California, 374 U. S. 23, 33 (1963)
(“the standard of reasonableness is the same under the
Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments”): Malloy v. Hogan,
378 L. S. 1. 11 (1964) (“the same standards must deter-

4 See, e. g., v. Massachusetts, 44 U.S. L W. 5173, 5177
(U.S. Jume 30, 1976) ( J. :
v. New York, 399 U.S. 66, 7677 (1976) (Burger

21

mine whether an accused’s silence in either a federal or
state proceeding is justified”); Pointer v. Texas, 389 U. S.
400, 406 (1965) (Sixth Amendment confrontation clause “is
‘to be enforced against the States under the Fourteenth
Amendment according to the same standards that protect
those personal rights against federal encroachment’’’)
(citation omitted). Read in the context of these and other
landmark incorporation decisions, Benton’s declaration
that “the same constitutional [double jeopardy] standards
apply against both the State and Federal governments,”
Benton v. Maryland, 395 U. S. 784, 795 (1969), and its de-
termination that “the validity of [state] conviction[s]
must be judged . . . under this Court’s interpretation of the
Fifth Amendment double jeopardy provision,” 395 U. S. at
796, compel the conclusion that if the federal attachment
of jeopardy rule is constitutionally mandated in federal
courts, no different rule may be followed by state courts.

Neither the Court’s application of the exclusionary
rule nor the jury trial cases embarrass the Supreme
Court’s position that the coverage of selectively incorpo-
rated provisions of the Bill of Rights must be coextensive
in state and federal tribunals. It is true that although
the Fourth Amendment’s prohibition of unreasonable
searches and seizures was made applicable to the states in
Wolf v. Colorado, 338 U. S. 25 (1949), the Supreme Court
delayed full enforcement of the federal exclusionary rule,
see Weeks v. United States, 232 U. S. 383 (1914), against
the states for another twelve years. See Mapp v. Ohio,
367 U. S. 643 (1961); cf. Elkins v. United States, 364 U. 8.
206 (1960) (evidence illegally obtained by state officials
may not be used in federal prosecutions). Recent Supreme

22

Court decisions, however, demonstrate that the exclusion-
ary rule is a “judicially created remedy designed to safe-
guard Fourth Amendment rights generally through its de-
terrent effect, rather than a personal constitutional right
of the party aggrieved,” United States v. Calandra, 414
U. S. 338, 348 (1974); accord, United States v. Peltier, 422
U. S. 531, 538-39 (1975). The Court’s holding in Stone v.
Powell, 44 U.S. L. W. 5313 (U. S. July 6, 1976), that a
state prisoner afforded an adequate opportunity to contest
the admission of illegally seized evidence at his state trial
is not entitled to federal habeas corpus consideration of
such a claim, confirms that the exclusionary rule, while con-
stitutionally inspired, is not constitutionally required. Thus
the hiatus between Wolf and Mapp gives us no pause:
because the exclusionary rule is not constitutionally re-
quired—that is, it forms part of “a substructure of sub-
stantive, procedural and remedial rules . . a constitutional
common law subject to amendment, modification, or even
reversal by Congress“ —its belated application to the
states exposes no flaw in the Court’s selective incorporation
doctrine.

The state misreads Williams v. Florida, 399 C. S. 78
(1970), and Apodaca v. Oregon, 406 U. S. 404 (1972), as
encouraging respect for state “procedural” rules that leave
the “substance” of federal constitutional rights intact. Wil-
hams held that a state need not provide a 12-person jury
in order to comply with the jury trial requirements of the
Sixth Amendment. In Apodaca, a plurality of four Jus-

5 The Supreme Court, 1974 Term—Foreword: Con-
stitutional Law, 89 Harv. L. Rev. I. 23 (1975).

23

tices maintained that when a state dispenses with the
unanimity requirement, it does not scuttle the Duncan-in-
corporated jury trial guarantee. The crucial point, how-
ever, is that the Williams majority and the Apodaca
plurality treated the 12-person and unanimity require-
ments, respectively, as non-constitutional rules in federal
as well as state courts. That is, neither requirement was
termed a sine qua non of the jury trial right protected by
the Sixth Amendment in federal courts, and thus neither—
under established incorporation doctrine—was found to be
indispensable in state proceedings.

B. Constitutional Status of the Attachment of
Jeopardy Rule

The attachment of jeopardy rule performs a crucial
service in double jeopardy jurisprudence, but its office is
confined to the mistrial context. When the question is
whether an accused is threatened with double punishment,’
whether two trials focus on the “same offense,“ whether

6 Williams v. Florida, 399 U.S. 78, 79 (1970) („the 12-man re-

cannot be regarded as an indispensable component of

Sixth Amendment) Apodaca v. Oregon, 406 U. S. 404, 406 (1972)
(unanimity requirement is not of constitutional stature’’).

7 See, e.g., Ex parte Lange, 85 U.S. (18 Wall.) 163 (1874).

8 See, e.g., Abbate v. oe Ay Bb
eral may prosecute con
— 11 Illinois, 359 U.S. 121 (1959) (state may prosecute
after acquittal in federal trial); Waller v. Florida, 397 U.S. 27
1970 may not prosecute individual for same offense for
which he has been prosecuted in municipal court); Ashe v. Swen
son, 397 U.S. 436 (1970) (collateral estoppel is requirement of
Fifth Amendment double jeopardy clause).

24

government appeal amounts to second jeopardy,’ or wheth-
er reprosecution after dismissal'® or defendant’s successful
appeal! constitutes double jeopardy, attachment of jeop-
ardy at some time during a former prosecution is not con-
troverted. The issue in these types of cases is whether
the particular additional punishment or procedure is a con-
stitutionally prohibited second run through the gantlet.
Many mistrial cases require a similar analysis, see Part ITI
infra. On this appeal, however, we confront the question
whether the first proceeding put appellants in jeopardy,
for the state neither maintains that the second prosecution
failed to put appellants in jeopardy nor suggests that the
tantalizing but firmly rejected theory of “continuing jeop-
ardy“ now be embraced to unite hoth proceedings as only
one jeopardy.

9 See, e. g., Kepner v. United States, 195 U.S. 100, 129-30 (1904)

(no government appeal from verdicts or judgments of acquittal, no
matter how erroneous their foundation in law or fact).

10 See, e. g., United States v. Sisson, 399 U. S. 267, 288-90 (1970).
11 See, e. g., United States v. Ball, 163 U. S. 662. 672 (1896).

12 Mr. Justice Holmes first advanced the continuing jeopardy
theory, see Kepner v. United States, 195 U.S. 100, 134-35, (Holmes,
J., dissenting), to justify government appeal after acquittal, but

25

Before Downum v. United States, 372 U. S. 735 (1963),
the Supreme Court had no oceasion to announce a rule gov-
erning the attachment of jeopardy, all previous mistrial
cases had held that the declaration of mistrial was proper
and that therefore retrial did not give rise to a cognizable
double jeopardy claim, see, e. g., note 27, infra. Leading
Courts of Appeals cases did not observe an analytical dis-
tinction between situations when jeopardy attaches during
the first proceeding and those in which a subsequent pro-
ceeding subjects the accused to a second jeopardy," but the
Supreme Court in Downum clearly perceived the issue as
whether the facts justified retrial after a mistrial “although
the jury impaneled for the first trial was discharged with-
out reaching a verdict and without the defendant’s con-
sent.“ 372 U. S. at 736. Since the mistrial in Downum had
been declared after the first jury was impaneled but before
any evidence had been introduced, 372 U. S. at 741 (Clark,
J., dissenting); Downum v. United States, 300 F. 2d 137,
139-40 (Sth Cir. 1962), the case necessarily stands for the
proposition that jeopardy attaches when a jury is im-
paneled. The Court explicitly adopted this reading of
Downum in Illinois v. Somerville, 410 U. S. 458, 467-68
(1973), and Serfass v. United States, 420 U. S. 377, 388

13 Compare Cornero v. United States, 48 F. 2d 69 (9th Cir. 1931)
(holding jeopardy attaches when jury is impaneled but finding ex-
ceptions to this general rule as to what constitutes former jeop-
ardy”) and Himmelfarb v. United States, 175 F. 2d 924, 932 K n. 2
(9th Cir. 1949), cert. denied, 338 U. S. 860 (1949) (ein numerous cir-
cumstances either the jeopardy attaching when the jury was sworn
didn’t count or didn't attach when the jury was sworn’), with
— e 2d 137, 139-40 (5th Cir. 1962),
rev'd, 372 (1963), (suggesting jeopardy might not attach
if no evidence introduced but nevertheless requiring a sound rea-

:
|

26

(1975). Cf. United States v. Sisson, 399 U. S. 267, 302-03
(1970) (statutory construction: phrase “put in jeopardy”
of Criminal Appeals Act “confines the Government's right
to appeal . to situations in which a jury has not been
impaneled”).'4

We hold that the attachment of jeopardy rule applied
in Downum, Somerville and Serfass is a constitutional re-
quirement of the Fifth Amendment which is binding on the
states as well as the federal government. The rule itself
serves as the lynchpin for all double jeopardy jurispru-
dence. Serfass v. United States, 402 U. S. 377, 393 (1975)
(“fundamental pri~ciple that an accused must suffer jeop-
ardy before he can suffer double jeopardy”); Illinois v.
Somerville, 418 U. S. 458, 467-68 (1973) (“the conclusion
that jeopardy has attached begins . . the inquiry. . . . Only
if jeopardy has attached is a court called upon to determine
whether the declaration of a mistrial’? comports with the
double jeopardy clause). Justice Harlan writing for the
Court in United States v. Jorn, 400 C. S. 470 (1971),
clearly indicated the constitutional stature of the rule: “the
conclusion that ‘jeopardy attaches’ when the trial com-
mences expresses a judgment that the constitutional poli-
cies underpinning the Fifth Amendment’s guarantee are
implicated at that point in the proceedings.” 400 U. S. at
480. The Chief Justice’s opinion in United States v. Ser-
fass, 420 U. S. 377 (1975), buttresses our conclusion: “the

27

courts have found it useful to define a point in criminal
proceedings at which the constitutional purposes and poli-
cies are implicated by resort to the concept of ‘attachment
of jeopardy,“ 420 U. S. at 388 (emphasis supplied).

The Supreme Court has consistently applied the fed-
eral attachment of jeopardy rule to state cases. In Illinois
v. Somerville, 410 U. S. 458 (1973), the Court unhesi-
tatingly turned to the federal rule as the first step in a
two-step analysis to determine (1) when jeopardy attached
and (2) whether subsequent proceedings amounted to a
second jeopardy. See 410 U. S. at 467-68. Montana points
out that the federal and state attachment of jeopardy rules
in Somerville were identical. See, e. g., People v. Somer-
ville, 88 III. App. 2d 212, 232 N. E. 2d 115, 117 (III. App.
1967), but this erroneously equates a circumstance with a
dispositive factor in a Supreme Court opinion. The Som-
erville Court never mentions the state rule, and a thorough
sifting of the opinion fails to discover even a shard of
evidence suggesting that the Court did not consider fed-
eral standards controlling.

Breed v. Jones, 421 U. S. 519 (1975), resolves any
doubt that federal standards determine when jeopardy at-
taches. In Breed, a unanimous Court ruled that a juvenile
may not be tried as an adult for violation of a criminal
statute when the alleged violation has previously been the
basis for a juvenile court’s adjudicatory determination of
delinquency. The state contended that jeopardy had not
attached during the juvenile court proceedings. 421 U. S.
at 527. Despite a statute authorizing transfer and trial
in the adult division after an adjudication of delinquency—
a state rule that jeopardy did not attach in juvenile court

28

the Supreme Court applied federal standards in deciding
whether and when jeopardy attached, 421 U. S. at 528-31."

Montana correctly urges that Breed v. Jones did not
“baldly assert that a state cannot determine at what point
a trial commences,” and argues that no constitutional vio-
lation oceurred here because under the Montana statute
appellants were tried but one time.” Brief for Appellees
at 7. But the circularity of the argument is palpable, and
the reliance on Breed transmutes literal facts into constitu-
tional finding. Montana neglects to point out that Breed
also rejected—on federal constitutional grounds—the state
law doctrine that the adult division trial merely “con-
tinued“ the juvenile jeopardy. 421 U. S. at 532-35. If the
constitutional protection against double trials as well as
double punishments” is not to be circumvented, federal law
must be authoritative in defining when the first trial begins
as well as when it ends, i. e., when the accused is first put

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29

in jeopardy as well as when prior proceedings amount to
former jeopardy. See Breed v. Jones, 421 U. S. 519, 534
(1975) (“the fact that the proceedings against respondent
had not ‘run their full course,’ . . . within the contemplation
of the California Welfare and Institutions Code .. . does
not satisfactorily explain why respondent should be de-
prived of the constitutional protection against a second
trial”); Price v. Georgia, 398 U. S 323 (1969) (state may
not employ continuing jeopardy theory to abrogate con-
stitutional rule that acquittal ends first jeopardy).

Illinois v. Somerville and Breed v. Jones leave little
room for argument, although the cases do not contain un-
equivocal language specifying federal rules of decision in
attachment of jeopardy cases. Montana thus claims that
a distinguishable state decision," as the sole case on
point,“ recognizes state responsibility for defining the at-
tachment of jeopardy. To the contrary, our researches re-
veal that the three Courts of Appeals that have considered
the question have held that the task of defining attachment
of jeopardy is a federal constitutional task. In [United
States ex rel. Somerville v. Illinois, 447 F. 2d 733, 735 (7th
Cir. 1971), ed on other grounds, 410 U. S. 458 (1973), the

30

Seventh Circuit was presented with an argument identical
to that made here, and ruled that federal, not state, law
is controlling on the issue as to when jeopardy attaches.”
Similarly, the Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit ap-
plied the federal rule to a state law case in United States
ex rel. Gibson v. Ziegele, 479 F. 2d 773, 776 (3d Cir. 1973),
cert. denied, 414 U. S. 1008 (1973). Finally, in Smith v.
Mississippi, 478 F. 2d 88, 93 (Sth Cir.) cert. denied, 414
U. S. 1113 (1973), the Fifth Cireuit analyzed the double
jeopardy claim of a state prisoner as follows:

„the [state’s] contention that petitioner was not
‘put to trial’ or was in no way prejudiced by the dis-
missal of the proceedings before testimony was pre-
sented has been decided adversely to it by the Supreme
Court in Downum ... and Somerville... . In both cases
the Supreme Court held that jeopardy attached when
the first jury was selected and sworn. The mere in-
troduction of evidence has no spontaneous effect on a
defendant which can be said to automatically charge
him with an appreciable degree of insecurity once he
had made the preparations for trial and selected those
of his peers who will determine his fate.’’

Montana debates the comparative efficacy of the fed-
eral rule versus its own rule, relying on the belief of the
Montana Supreme Court that there is “no substantial dif-
ference between the two rules,“ State v. Cunningham, 535
P. 2d 186, 189 (Mont. 1975). One must, of course, con-
cede that line drawing—an unavoidable incident of judi-
cial decision—‘‘cannot be wholly satisfactory, for it re-
quires attaching different consequences to events which,
when they lie near the line, actually differ very little,’’
Duncan v. Louisiana, 391 U. S. 145, 161 (1968). But to
make the very difficulty of constitutional decisionmaking

31

a reason to disregard authoritative Supreme Court prece-
dent is not a proposition to be considered. See, e. 9., Bald-
win v. New York, 399 U. S. 66, 73-74 (1970) (state may not
employ its own felony/misdemeanor classification, rather
than federal potential sentence rule, to trigger jury trial
guarantee despite similar results of the rules.)

Moreover, we question the accuracy of the Montana
Supreme Court’s view that there is no inherent merit in
the federal rule over Montana's state law,“ State b. Cun-
ningham, 535 P. 2d 186, 188 (Mont. 1975). Cunningham
incorreetly proceeds on the assumption that the attachment
of jeopardy rule is designed to prevent prosecutorial ma-
nipulation. 535 P. 2d at 188-89. But as the Montana Su-
preme Court recognized, the trial court's correct applica-
tion of mistrial doctrine, see Part Lil infra, is the only
effective safeguard against prosecutorial overreaching. 535
P. Ad at 188-89. The attachment of jeopardy rule address-
es different concerns: (1) protecting the accused froin the
financial, physical and psychological enervation worked by
repetitive prosecutions ;'’ and (2) preserving the accused's
“valued right to have his trial completed by a particular
tribunal, . independent of be threat of bad-faith con-

19 The classic quotation is from Mr. Justice Black's opinion for
the Court in Green v. United States, 355 U.S. 184, 187-88 (1957):
“The underlying idea, one that is deeply ingrained in at
least the system of jurisprudence, is that the
o> make apatites champm t consist on tnaettend ter an
to con an an
alleged offense, thereby subjecting him to embarrassment, ex-
pense and ordeal and compelling him to live in a continuing
state of anxiety and insecurity, as well as enhancing the possi-
bility that even though innocent he may be found guilty.”

32

duct by judge or prosecutor.”’’ We decline to substitute
a contradictory state rule for the Supreme Court’s judg-
ment that these concerns reach constitutional critical mass
when the jury is impaneled and sworn." And if prevent-
ing miseonduct were the main purpose of the rule, a con-
cern for prophylaxis would favor the federal formulation—
it eannot be denied that the federal rule, which provides
for earlier attachment, lessens the potential for misfeas-

H

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41.08, at W (T. D. believe, failed
> aus Gs Ge © he - a
purpose protection
3 by a par-
ticular tribunal,” (1949); accord,
United States v. 4309. U.S. March 3,
1976); Illinois v. S. 458, (1973); United
States v. Jorn, 400 U. 484-85 (1971): Downum v. United
States, 372 U.S. 7%, . Wher one sees that the two
attachment of jeopardy rules are necessary if this “valued right”
is to be protected, the reason for the distinction seems plain.

33

lil RETRIAL AFTER MISTRIAL

Preconstitutional courts in America and England of-
fered protection against double jeopardy only to defend-
ants who had been pursued to the point of a final judg-
ment or verdict. Whether the framers envisioned the
double jeopardy clause as affording a broader protection
against reprosecution after prematurely terminated trials
is not disclosed by available historical evidence.“ Thus it
is not surprising that in United States v. Perez, 22 U.S.
(9 Wheat.) 579 (1824), Mr. Justice Story treated the first
mistrial case to reach the Supreme Court as presenting
questions of the general law of the United States rather
than constitutional issues. Perez held that retrial was not
barred when a court discharges a jury unable to agree
on a verdict. In terms that later became the touchstone
for constitutional analysis, Justice Story declared that
the law has invested courts of justice with the authority
to discharge a jury from giving any verdict, whenever, in
their opinion, taking all the circumstances into consideration
there is manifest necessity for the act, or the ends of pub-
lic justice would otherwise be defeated,’ and found “the
security which the public have for the faithful, sound and
conscientious exercise of this diseretion,“ to rest upon
the responsibility of the judges, under the oaths of office.
22 U. S. (9 Wheat.) at 580.

A declaration of mistrial anticipates reprosecution, but
as early as Simmons v. United States, 142 U. S. 148 (1891),

22 See United States v. Wilson, 420 U.S. 332, 342 (1975). Note,
Double Jeopardy: The Represecution Problem, 77 Harv. L. Rev.

34

an erroneously declared mistrial was viewed as creating
a potential double jeopardy problem. Simmons and Logan
v. United States, 144 U. S. 263 (1892), attached constitu-
tional significance to Perez’ delphic concepts f manifest
necessity’’ and the ends of public justice, which are
now firmly established as constitutional standards of re-
view of mistrial cases, see, e. g., United States v. Dinitz,
44 U. S. L. W. 4309, 4311 (C. S. March 3, 1976); Illinois
v. Somerville, 410 U. S. 458, 461 (1973). Since appellants
were put in jeopardy at their first trial, see Part II supra,
the remaining question on appeal is whether, under the
Perez standards, the mistrial was declared in circumstances
that permit reprosecution.

A. The Legacy of Perez

The rationale behind allowing retrial following mis-
trial rulings that meet the Perez standards—for any re-
trial exposes a defendant to double trials and also substi-

tutes a new jury for that originally chosen—was outlined
in Wade v. Hunter, 336 U. S. 684, 688-89 (1949) :

The double jeopardy provision of the Fifth
Amendment . does not mean that every time a de-
fendant is put to trial before a competent tribunal
he is entitled to go free if the trial fails to end in a
final judgment. Such a rule would create an insuper-
able obstacle to the administration of justice in many
cases in which there is no semblance of the type of
oppressive practices at which the double jeopardy
prohibition is aimed.’’

In administering the Perez test, the Court has been
reluctant to resort to mechanical rules to resolve the con-

flict between a defendant’s Fifth Amendment rights and

35

society’s interest in full enforcement of the criminal law.
Nevertheless, ever since Justice Story cautioned that the
power to declare a mistrial should be employed only ‘‘un-
der urgent circumstances, and for very plain and obvious
causes,” 22 U. S. (9 Wheat.) at 580, one uniform require-
ment has been imposed on all mistrial cases. That re-
quirement and the reason for it were explained in United
States v. Jorn, 400 U. 8. 470, 485 (1971):

„I [the] right to go to a particular tribunal is
valued, it is because, independent of the threat of bad-
faith conduct by judge or prosecutor, the defendant
has a significant interest in the decision whether or
not to take the case from the jury when circumstances
occur which might be thought to warrant a declaration
of mistrial... . [The Perez doctrine of manifest ne-
cessity stands as a command to trial judges not to
foreclose the defendant’s option until a scrupulous ex-
ercise of judicial discretion leads to the conclusion
that the ends of public justice would not be served

by a continuation of the proceedings.
Accord, United States v. Dinitz, 44 U.S. L. W. 4309, 4311-

12 (C. S. March 9, 1976); Illinois v. Somerville, 410 U. S.
458, 462-63 (1973).

Applying this principle to the instant case, we hold that
retrial on Count I (grand larceny) of the original informa-
tion was prohibited by the double jeopardy clause. Unlike
Count II (obtaining money and property by false pretens-
es), Count I was sufficient to state an offense. Its dis-
missal necessarily denied appellants the chance to take
the grand larceny charge to the first jury and, perhaps,
end the dispute then and there with an acquittal,” United
States v. Jorn, 400 U. S. 470, 484 (1971). Yet no reason—

36

other than the state’s convenience in litigating the case as
a unit—appears to have prompted the mistrial declaration.
Certainly the ‘‘public’s interest in fair trials designed to
end in just judgments, Wade v. Hunter, 336 U. S. 684,
689 (1949), could have been adequately served by com-
pleting the trial on Count I. In these circumstances, the
mistrial and retrial on Count I amounted to an archetypal
double jeopardy violaticn.

B. Mistrials and State Procedural Rules

Count II (obtaining money and property by false pre-
tenses) of the original information presents a different
issue. The trial court dismissed Count II sua sponte
after denying the state’s motion to amend the information
in order to correct a typographical error. Unamended,
Count II failed to state an offense, but unfortunately that
circumstance is not dispositive in determining the consti-
tutionality of retrial. It has long been clear, for example,
that an acquittal on a defective indictment is nonetheless
a bar to subsequent prosecution for the same offense.“
Furthermore, if the state could stulti’y its own trial proc-
ess by claiming that a prosecution on a defective informa-

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37

tion however concluded did not constitute former jeo-
pardy, the Fifth Amendment’s protection against persecu-
tion by prosecution would be undermined.

The Count IT mistrial does not conveniently appear un-
der the rubrics of the classic mistrial cases—hung jury, jur-
or disqualification, tactical exigencies of a wartime court-
martial, or prolonged illness or incapacity of judge, counsel
or witnesses.** We are aware, of course, that the Supreme
Court has protested the development of per se rules to
govern mistrials, see, e. g., Wade v. Hunter, 336 U. S. 684,
691 (1949) (criticizing Ninth Cireuit rule that unavailabil-
ity of healthy witness can never justify mistrial), as ineon-
sistent with Perez’ emphasis on flexibility, see Illinois v.
Somerville, 410 U. S. 458, 467 (1973). On the other hand,
an inevitably ad hoc balancing test would threaten to trans-
form Perez from an exception into an analytical formula-
tion “whose escape hatch is larger than the compartment
from which it offers egress.”** A more promising ap-
proach, we think, is to compare the instant case with the
Supreme Court’s decisions in Downum, Jorn and Somer-
ville.

As the first Supreme Court case to hold that the double
jeopardy clause prevented reprosecution after a mistrial,

24 See, e.g., Logan v. United States, 144 U.S. 263 (1892) (hung
jury); Thompson v. United States, 155 U.S. 271 (1894) (juror dis-
qualified because member of grand jury); Simmons v. United
States, 142 U.S. 148 (1891) (outside influence brought to bear on
jury); Wade Hunter, 336 U. S. 684 (1949) (court-martial); United
States v. Moon, 491 F. 2d 1047, 1048 (5th Cir. 1974) (illness of de-
fense counsel); United States ex rel. Gibson v. Ziegele, 479 F. 2d
773 (3d Cir.), cert. denied, 414 U. S. 1008 (1973) (illness of key wit-
ness occurring after trial had begun.)

25 Cf. Bickel, The Supreme Court, 1960 Term—Foreword: The
Passive Virtues, 75 Harv. L. Rev. 40, 43 n. 17 (1961).

.

38

Downum v. United States, 372 U. S. 734 (1963), looms
rather large on the constitutional landscape. When the
government’s key witness on two of six counts of passing
checks stolen from the mail failed to appear the United
States asked that the jury be discharged. The defendant
countered by requesting that the two counts be dismissed
for want of prosecution and that trial continue on the
other four. There was no suggestion that the witness’ non-
appearance was caused by anything other than the mar-
shal’s inability to serve him with a subpoena. The prose-
cution knew of this difficulty, but answered ready, appar-
ently assuming that service had been made. The trial court
granted the government’s motion. In holding that retrial
on any of the six counts violated the double jeopardy
clause, the Downum Court established two propositions.
First, Downum’s disposition of the two affected counts
means that the fact that the government’s unpreparedness
is due to “excusable oversight,” 372 U. S. at 742 (Clark,
J., dissenting), rather than a plan to capture unfair tacti-
cal advantage, is not by itself sufficient to support a mis-
trial declaration. Second, Downum’s disposition of the
four other counts shows that the government may not frus-
trate a defendant’s right to take the case to the jury by
claiming possible adverse collateral estoppel effects if a
multiple-count indictment is separated for trial. Downum
is thus fully congruent with our own holding on Count I
(grand larceny). Downum also tells us that Montana may
not justify retrial on Count II (obtaining money and prop-
erty by false pretenses) by claiming that the prosecutorial
error was inadvertent or by asking for unitary adjudica-
tion of both counts.

United States v. Jorn, 400 U. S. 470 (1971), teaches

an equally significant 'esson. In Jorn, the trial court in a

39

tax fraud case declared a mistrial to safeguard prosecu-
tion witnesses’ privilege against self-incrimination. The
Supreme Court concluded that the trial judge had been
overassiduous in his attempt to protect witnesses who fully
understood their rights, and held that retrial on all counts
was prohibited. Jorn shows that a defendant’s trial posi-
tion need not be impaired in order for retrial to be pro-
hibited: the government was the only party whose proof
might have been weakened by the trial court’s action. In
the present case, Jorn means that deprivation of the ‘‘val-
ued right” to take the case to the jury is enough in itself
to bar retrial unless the mistrial declaration was actually
necessary to protect other important interests.

In Illinois v. Somerville, 410 U. S. 458 (1973), the
trial court granted the state’s motion for a mistrial after
it was discovered that the indictment failed to allege a
necessary element of the offense charged. [Illinois law pre-
vented amendment of the information. The Supreme
Court held that where a state law “procedural defect might
or would preelude the publie from either obtaining an im-
partial verdict or keeping a verdict of conviction if its evi-
dence persuaded the jury,” a mistrial is constitutionally
available when “the mistrial [is], under [state] law, the
only way in which a defect in the indictment could be cor-
rected.” 410 U. S. at 468-69.

Somerville’s explanation of its holding is not entirely
satisfactory. The state rule was designed to “implement
the State’s policy of preserving the [state-created] right
of each defendant to insist that a criminal prosecution
against him be commenced by action of the grand jury,”
410 U. S. at 468, and it was that policy which Somerville
respected. It is hard to see, however, how a state’s inter-

40

est in protecting its citizens’ state procedural rights should
be sufficient to deprive those same citizens of what other-
wise would be a federal constitutional right not to be placed
twice in jeopardy. Indeed, it would seem that the more
Procrustean a state rule is, the more likely it will be—
under Somerville—sufficient cause for subjecting defend-
ants to two trials and two juries.

Somerville’s anomalies need not detain us, however, for
the facts of this case point to a result that is fully con-
sistent with Downum, Jorn and Somerville. The appli-
cable Montana statute, § 95-1505, Rev. Cope or Mont. 1947
(Smith ed. 1969), provides:

“(a) A charge may be amended in matters of sub-

stance at any time before the defendant pleads,
without leave of court.

(b) The court may permit any charge to be amended
as to form at any time before verdict or finding
if no additional or different offense is charged
and if the substantial rights of the defendant
are not prejudiced.

(e) No charge shall be dismissed because of a for-
mal defect which does not tend to prejudice a
substantial right of the defendant.”’
One can hardly imagine a more “formal” matter than the
correction of a glaring typographical error, and surely no
“rights of the defendant” would have been undercut by the
requested alteration. No state policy of ensuring that all
criminal charges are initiated by indictment by the grand
jury is involved here, for an information can be filed at the
diseretion of the prosecutor. Finally, although the stand-
ard by which a trial judge’s action must be measured is
ultimately federal, our researches indicate that Montana
case law fully comports with our conclusion that the trial

41

court's failure to grant the motion to amend was an abuse
of diseretion,“ and that the sua sponte declaration of mis-
trial on Count II was made in circumstances that, under
the Perez doctrine, do not permit retrial.

REVERSED and REMANDED.

5
1

„e. g., State v. Terry, 250 P. 612 (Mont. 1926) (amendment
Some E Selb ane Bias» Oto of extant 2.

from April 10, 1925 to April 24, 1925 was proper); State v. Polich
226 P. 519, 51920 (Mont. 1924) (clerical error in an information
which date read 19122“ instead of 1922 was matter of

made
korm under statute governing sufficiency of c ); State v.
Beeskove, 85 P. 376, 377 (Mont. 1906) (while Kay ph must

The current statute that controls amendment of criminal
— § 95-1505, was enacted in 1967, see ch. 196, 1. Laws of
Montana 1967, repealing < 94-6207, Rev. Code of Mont. 1947. Former
versions of the statute also made use of the distinction between

— 1 aay GHz. a change of substance is one which ele
vates the charged offense from a misdemeanor to a felony, com-
pare Gransberry v. State, 423 P. 2d 853 (Mont. 1967), and State v.
, 254 P. 872 (Mont. 1927), with State v. Tritz, 522 P. 2d 603
1974), and State v. Knight, 387 P.2d 22 (Mont. 1963), or

i

contemplation of the same evidence rule,” is alleged,

. Tropf, 530 P. 2d 1158 (Mont. 1975) (trial court correctly

permit amendment — 5 offense from possession to

here the amendment changes

ary" 22 1 — the state
ni “burg ” (leavi

question of degree to the jury), it is a change of form —

7 A 1053 (Mont. 1973) (construing

v. Lu Sing, 85 P. 521, 522-23 (1906) (correc-

misspelling is matter of form“ that does not render indict-

1

1
ae
S
:
;

111
i
11
A

f
i
;
5

5
i
d

42

Clancy CUNNINGHAM, Petitioner,
vs.

The DISTRICT COURT OF the THIRTEENTH JUDI-
CIAL DISTRICT OF the STATE OF MONTANA et al.,

Respondents.
L. R. BRETZ, Petitioner,
vs.

Roger CRIST, as Warden of the Montana State Peniten-
tiary, Deer Lodge, Montana, and John Moe, as Sheriff of
Missoula County, Montana, Respondents.

Merrel CLINE, Relator,

vs.

The STATE OF MONTANA and Roger Crist, Warden,
Montana State Penitentiary, Respondents.

Nos. CV-75-112-BLG—CV-75-114-BLG.

United States District Court,
D. Montana,

Billings, Division.
Dee. 31, 1975.

Petitions on behalf of three petitioners were filed for
writs of habeas corpus. The cases were consolidated. The
District Court, Battin, J., aeld that Montana statute which
provides that jeopardy attaches in a criminal trial after
the first witness is sworn does not violate double jeopardy
provisions of Fifth Amendment to United States Constitu-
tion or the Montana Constitution; and that even
assuming that jeopardy attaches in state proceed-

43

ings when jury is sworn, doctrine of manifest
necessity required that further trial be held as to defend-
ants, despite error as to one count in information as to
date which led to dismissal and refiling of information,
since the flaw pertaining to the date was nothing more than
a typographical defect which should not bar the continua-
tion and completion of the trial.

Petitions denied.

1. Constitutional Law—260

Double jeopardy provision contained in Fifth
Amendment to United States Constitution applies to the
states. U.S.C. A. Const. Amend 5.

2. Constitutional Law—267

Due process clause of Fourteenth Amendment im-
poses the Sixth Amendment trial by jury upon the states.
U. S. C. A. Const. Amends. 6, 14.

3. Criminal Law—146

Montana statute which provides that jeopardy at-
taches in a criminal trial after the first witness is sworn
does not violate double jeopardy provisions of Fifth
Amendment to United States Constitution nor the Mon-
tana Constitution. U.S.C. A. Const. Amend. 5; R. C. M.
1947, § 95-1711; Const. Mont. 1972, art. 2, § 25.

4. Criminal Law—170

Even assuming that jeopardy attaches in state
proceedings when jury is sworn, doctrine of manifest neces-
sity required that further trial be held as to defendants,

4H

despite error as to one count in information as to date
which led to dismissal and refiling of information, since
the flaw pertaining to the date was nothing more than a
typographical defect which should not bar the continuation
and completion of the trial. U.S.C.A. Const. Amend. 5;
R. C. M. 1947, § 95-1711; Const. Mont. 1972, art. 2, $ 25.

Moses, Kampfe, Tolliver & Wright, Billings, Mont.,
for Claney Cunningham.

Charles F. Moses, Moses, Kampfe, Tolliver & Wright,
Billings, Mont., for L. R. Bretz.

W. William Leaphart, The Leaphart Law Firm,
Helena, Mont., for relator Merrel Cline.

Richard Dzivi, Special Pros., Robert L. Woodahl,
Atty. Gen. for the State of Montana, Helena, Mont., for
respondents.

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

BATTIN, District Judge.

The above-named petitioners have individually sub-
mitted petitions for writs of habeas corpus. Due to the
similarity of issues, the cases were consolidated.

BACKGROUND FACTS.
Petitioner Cunningham

Petitioner was charged in Information No. 9017, filed
on August 24, 1973, in Yellowstone County, with first de-
gree assault. On March 21, 1974, a jury was impaneled

45

and sworn, and the omnibus instruction was read. Prior
to the swearing of any witness, the State was granted a
motion to dismiss due to the unavailability of the key wit-
ness. A second Information alleging third degree assault
was filed on May 20, 1974. On August 16, 1974, the Yellow-
stone County District Court granted petitioner’s motion to
quash the Information because of double jeopardy. On
May 2, 1975, the Supreme Court of Montana reversed the
District Court’s order, holding that further prosecution
was not barred by double jeopardy provisions of the United
States and Montana Constitutions. State of Montana v.
Cunningham, Mont., 535 P. 2d 186 (1975). The Supreme
Court denied petitioner’s petition for rehearing on May
20, 1975. The matter was set for trial on November 11,
1975.

Petitioners Bretz and Cline

Information No. 3921 was filed on October 3, 1974, in
Lewis and Clark County, charging petitioners with the com-
mission of nine felonies. On Mareh 13, 1975, a jury was
impaneled and sworn, but no witnesses were sworn. The
trial court then granted a motion by petitioners to dismiss
one count. The State filed and the District Court granted
a motion to dismiss the remaining counts on April 4, 1975,
before any witnesses were sworn; a second Information,
No. 3963, alleging the commission of two felonies by peti-
tioners, was filed on the same day. Petitioners’ motion to
dismiss on the grounds of double jeopardy was filed on
April 25, 1975, and the District Court denied it on May 1,
1975. Petitioner Bretz filed a petition for habeas corpus
with the Supreme Court of Montana, alleging double jeop-
ardy. This was denied by that court on July 23, 1975.

Bretz v. Sheriff, Mont., 539 P. 2d 1191 (1975). On Sep-
tember 2, 1975, the Supreme Court denied a rehearing. A
trial commenced in the District Court of the First Judicial
District on June 16, 1975, and on July 2, 1975 petitioners
were found guilty of obtaining money by false pretenses—
the same count that had been dismissed as the result of
petitioners’ motion.

ISSUES.

1. Is Section 95-1711 of the Revised Codes of Mon-
tana, 1947, constitutional in light of the double jeopardy
provisions of the Fifth Amendment to the United States
Constitution and the Montana Constitution?

2. Assuming that the United States Supreme Court
were to hold that jeopardy attaches in state proceedings
when the jury is sworn, does the doctrine of “manifest
necessity” require that a further trial be held as to peti-
tioners Bretz and Cline?

DISCUSSION.
A. Application of Fifth Amendment to the States.

[1] There is no doubt that the double jeopardy pro-
hibition contained in the Fifth Amendment to the United
States Constitution applies to the States. Benton v. Mary-
land, 395 U. S. 784, 89 S. Ct. 2056, 23 L. Ed. 2d 707 (1969).
The Court in Benton stated:

“In 1937, this Court decided the landmark case of
Palko v. Connecticut, 302 U. S. 319, 58 8. Ct. 149, 82
L. Ed. 288. Palko, although indicted for first-degree
murder, had been convicted of murder in the second
degree after a jury trial in a Contecticut state court.

47

State appealed and won a new trial. Palko ar-
that the Fourteenth Amendment incorporated, as
the States, the Fifth Amendment requirement
person ‘be subject for the same offense to be
twice put in jeopardy of life or limb.’ The Court dis-
agreed. Federal double jeopardy standards were not
applicable against the States. Only when a kind of
jeopardy subjected a defendant to ‘a hardship so acute
and shocking that our polity will not endure it,’ id. at
328, 58 S. Ct. [149], at 153, did the Fourteenth Amend-
ment apply. The order for a new trial was affirmed.
In subsequent appeals from state courts, the Court
continued to apply this lesser Palko standard. See,
e. g., Brock v. North Carolina, 344 U. S. 424, 73 S. Ct.
349, 97 L. Ed. 456 (1953).

Recently, however, this Court has ‘increasingly
looked to the specific guarantees of the [Bill of Rights]
to determine whether a state criminal trial was con-
ducted with due process of law.’ Washington v. Texas,
388 U. S. 14, 18, 87 S. Ct. 1920, 1922, 18 L. Ed. 2d
1019 (1967). In an increasing number of cases, the
Court ‘has rejected the notion that the Fourteenth
Amendment applies to the States only a watered-
down, subjective version of the individual guarantees
of the Bill of Rights. Malloy v. Hogan, 378
U. S. 1, 10-11, 84 S. Ct. 1489, 1495, 12 L. Ed. 2d 653
(1964) Only last Term we found that the right to
trial by jury in criminal cases was ‘fundamental to
the American scheme of justice,’ Duncan v. Louisiana,
391 U. S. 145, 149, 88 S. Ct. 1444, 1447, 20 L. Ed. 2d
491 (1968), and held that the Sixth Amendment right
to a jury trial was applicable to the States through
the Fourteenth Amendment. For the same reasons,
we today find that the double jeopardy prohibition of
the Fifth Amendment represents a fundamental! idea!
in our constitutional heritage, and that it should apply
to the States through the Fourteenth Amendment. In-
sofar as it is inconsistent with this holding, Palko v.
Connecticut is overruled.’”’ (Footnotes omitted.) Ben-
ton, supra, at 793-794, 89 S. Ct. at 2062.

il

But the Court has been careful to distinguish between
substantive rights and procedures. A review of the Court’s
actions concerning the right to trial by jury clearly estab-
lishes that the Court has determined that as long as the
substance of the right is maintained, then the procedure
by which the result is reached is wholly within the discre-
tion of the State. See 47 Am. Jur. 2d 640, 641.

[2] As held in Duncan, supra, the due process clause
of the Fourteenth Amendment imposes the Sixth Amend-
ment trial by jury right upon the States. Rule 23(b) of
the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure, established to
protect these rights, requires that a jury shall consist of
twelve persons and that a verdict shall be unanimous. De-
spite this federal rule, several States have differing pro-
visions.

Oregon and Louisiana, for example, have determine
that notwithstanding the federal requirement of unanimity,
a conviction could be attained on a less than unanimous
jury vote. The Supreme Court has held that the States
have the right and power to set such procedures and that
the federal rule was strictly for use in federal trials.
Apodaca v. Oregon, 406 U. S. 404, 92 S. Ct. 1628, 32 L. Ed.
2d 184 (1972); Johnson v. Louisiana, 406 U. S. 356, 92 S.
Ct. 1620, 32 L. Ed. 2d 152 (1972).

Similarly, the Supreme Court has determined that a
State can provide for a jury trial of less than twelve per-
sons—again notwithstanding federal rules to the contrary.
Williams v. Florida, 399 U. S. 78, 90 S. Ct. 1893, 26 L. Ed.
2d 446 (1970).

Clearly, the Supreme Court has not mandated that
States accept the federal procedure as long as the State

49

procedure preserves the constitutional objective. Mon-
tana’s procedural rule does not present a ‘‘ watered-down
version’’ of the constitutional right. The defendants’ sub-
stantive rights receive no less protection under the Mon-
tana statute than under federal procedures, for, practically
speaking, the swearing of the jury and the swearing of
the first witness occur nearly at the same point in time.
Since the substance of the right has been clearly preserved,
then the object of the constitutional provision guaranteeing
that the defendant shall not be placed in jeopardy twice
has been met.

As the Montana Supreme Court stated in Cunningham,
supra, 535 P. 2d at 189:

We find no substantial difference between the
two rules. Montana policy as enunciated by its leg-
islature is that the trial does not start until the first
witness is sworn. Sound policy reasons exist for this
rule, principally that the jury as the trier of the facts
has nothing to consider until the first witness is called
and sworn. This appears entirely consistent with the
constitutional standard that jeopardy does not attach
until the defendant has been put to trial before the
trier of the facts. Serfass v. United States (1975),
supra (420 U. S. 377, 95 S. Ct. 1055, 43 L. Ed. 2d 265}.”’

The Court, noting that they could perceive no inherent
merit in the federal rule over Montana’s state law, further
stated:

. . . It has been said that the federal rule is designed
to prevent prosecutorial manipulation. IMinois v. Som-
ervile (88 Ill. App. 2d 212, 232 N. E. 2d 115], supra.
It has further been said that the federal rule guar-
antees the defendant his valued right to have his trial
completed before the tribunal and jury selected for

50

his case. Wade v. Hunter (1949), 336 U. S. 684, 69
S. Ct. 834, 93 L. Ed. 974; United States v. Jorn, supra
[400 U. S. 470, 91 S. Ct. 547, 27 L. Ed. 2d 543 (1971)).

„We foil to see in what manner the federal rule
protects against these abuses to a greater extent than
Montana law. Prosecutorial manipulation can be ef-
fected as readily under one rule as under the other. If
bent on manipulation, a federal prosecutor can move
to dismiss after the jury is selected but before it is
sworn, as readily as a state prosecutor can move to
dismiss after the jury is sworn but before the first
witness is called. In either case, the real protection

inst prosecutorial manipulation is the discretion
of the trial judge in granting or denying dismissal.

Here, for example, the judge could have, but did not,

dismiss with prejudice.

Nor do we see any greater protection in the fed-
eral rule as far as securing to defendant the right to
have his trial completed before the court and jury
selected to try his case. Montana adheres to this prin-
ciple also. It all depends on when the trial is con-
sidered to have commenced—whether on selection and
swearing of the jury as in the federal courts, or on
swearing the first witness as in Montana state courts.’
Cunningham, supra, at 188.

The United States Supreme Court has never rendered
any blanket holding to the effect that a State could not
decide at what point jeopardy has attached. The petition-
ers have cited Breed v. Jones, 421 U. S. 519, 95 S. Ct. 1779,
44 L. Ed. 2d 346 (1975), which they contend holds that the
States cannot decide for themselves when Fifth Amend-
ment jeopardy attaches. This is clearly not the holding
of that case. The sole issue in that case was whether a
juvenile court adjudication constituted a trial, thereby es-
tablishing double jeopardy on a subsequent adult trial for

51

the same offense. The Court, addressing itself primarily
to the unique nature of juvenile proceedings and the legal
rights of juveniles, concluded that such a proceeding was,
in fact, like a trial and jeopardy attached. Nowhere in the
opinion does the Court baldly assert that a State cannot
determine at what point a trial commences. Nor does the
Court ever attempt to impose any federal procedural rule
upon the California Juvenile Court. The sole concern in
Breed, as it is in the instant case, is not whether federal
procedures were followed, but whether federally guaran-
teed rights were violated.

The Arizona Supreme Court, faced with the same con-
flict between federal and state rules, upheld the constitu-
tionality of their own state rule. The Court concluded:

„The United States Supreme Court has held that the
double jeopardy clause of the Fifth Amendment to the
United States Constitution is applicable to the States.
[citations omitted.] They did not define what consti-
tuted jeopardy and we believe the States are still al-
lowed a certain degree of discretion as to what amounts
to jeopardy. We hold, as a matter of law, that jeop-
ardy had not attached in this case.“ State v. Padilla,
107 Ariz. 134, 483 P. 2d 549, 553 (1971); cert. den. 404
U. S. 1049, 92 8. Ct. 718, 30 L. Ed. 2d 740 (1971).

I agree with that Court's holding.
[3] Therefore, I conclude that the statute does not
violate the United States Constitution nor the Montana

Constitution, Article II, Section 25. State of Montana v.
Cunningham, supra, 535 P. 2d 186.

B. Manifest Necessity.

[4] Assuming that jeopardy attaches in state pro-
ceedings when the jury is sworn, the doctrine of manifest

52

necessity would nevertheless require that a further trial
be held as to petitioners Bretz and Cline.

The State alleges in its brief and oral argument that
petitioners were well aware of a typographical error as to
one count in the information—specifically, a date of 1973
which had inadvertently been typed ‘‘1974’’. The State
continues that the petitioners, knowing of this error, waited
until the jury was sworn and then moved for dismissal.
The State, considering that it was the most important of
the nine counts, dismissed the remaining eight counts and
refiled the information charging two counts—alternative
pleading of a single offense.

The petitioners contend that their motion to dismiss
was simply to require the prosecution to conform the evi-
dence to the pleadings and that there was no reliance by
the defendants on any defect in the pleadings.

Regardless of how the parties attempt to characterize
the factual situation, it appears that the flaw was nothing
more than a typographical defect, which should not bar
the continuation and completion of the trial.

The United States Supreme Court has been confronted
with similar situations. In concluding that jeopardy had
not attached, the Court in Illinois v. Somerville, 410 U.S.
458, 93 S. Ct. 1066, 35 L. Ed. 2d 425 (1973), stated:

‘* . . The interest of the public in seeing that a crim-
inal prosecution proceed to verdict, either of acquittal

53

or conviction, need not be forsaken by the formulation
or application of rigid rules that necessarily preclude
the vindication of that interest. This consideration,
whether termed the ‘ends of public justice,’ [citation
omitted] or, more precisely, ‘the public's interest in
fair trials designed to end in just judgments,’ [cita-
tion omitted] has not been disregarded by this Court.“
Somerville, supra, at 463, 93 S. Ct. at 1070.

To prevent the refiling of an information and subse-
quent trial as the result of such a typographical defect
certainly precludes the public’s interest in a fair trial de-
signed to end in a just judgment.

As the Ninth Circuit recently stated:

„To adopt appellee’s argument would require a
mechanical formula to determine when jeopardy at-
taches. This approach well could undermine the pol-
icies and purposes of the constitutional safeguard.
‘Whether jeopardy attaches is based on flexible policy
considerations rather than hard and fast rules.
United States v. Brown, 481 F. 2d 1035, 1040 (8 Cir.
1973); see Illinois v. Somerville, 410 U. S. 458, 467,
93 S8. Ct. 1066, 35 L. Ed. 2d 425 (1973); United States
v. Jorn, supra, at 480, 91 8. Ct. 547.“ U.S. v. Choate,
527 F. 2d 748, 1975.

Therefore, it is ordered that the petitions for writs
of habeas corpus are denied.

*
*

54
APPENDIX C
In The United States Court of Appeals
For The Ninth Circuit
No. 76-1572

L. R. BRETZ,
Petitioner-Appellant,
vs.

ROGER CRIST, ete., et al.,
Respondent-A ppellee.

No. 76-1169

MERREL CLINE,
Petitioner-Appellant,
vs.

THE STATE OF MONTANA, etc., et al.,
Respondent-A ppellee.

NOTICE OF APPEAL

Notice is hereby given that the respondent, State of
Montana, above named, hereby appeals to the United States
Supreme Court from the Order entered in this proceeding
on the 19th day of November, 1976.

DATED this 13th day of December, 1976.

STATE OF MONTANA
Office of the Attorney General

By: /s/ Albert W. Meloling
Chief Prosecutor

Filed December 15, 1976 in the above-entitled court.

—— — —

55
APPENDIX D
95-1711. Effect of former prosecution and multiple
prosecutions. (1) Definitions of terms.

(a) The term same transaction’’ includes conduct
consisting of :

(i) a series of acts or omissions motivated by a
purpose to accomplish a criminal objective, and necessary
or incidental to the accomplishment of that objective; or

(ii) a series of acts or omissions motivated by a
common purpose or plan and which result in the repeated
commission of the same offense or affect the same person
or the same persons or the property thereof.

(b) An offense is an included offense’? when:

(i) it is established by proof of the same or less than
all the facts required to establish the commission of the
offense charged; or

(ii) it consists of an attempt to commit the offense
charged or to commit an offense otherwise included therein:
or

(iii) it differs from the offense charged only in the
respect that a less serious injury or risk of injury to the
same person, property or public interest or a lesser kind
of culpability suffices to establish its commission.

(2) Method of prosecution when conduct constitutes
more than one offense. When the same transaction may
establish the commission of more than one offense, a person
charged with such conduct may be prosecuted for each
such offense. He may not, however, be convicted of more
than one offense if:

56

(a) one offense is included in the other; or

(b) one offense consists only of a conspiracy or oth-
er form of preparation to commit the other; or

(e) inconsistent findings of fact are required to es-
tablish the commission of the offenses;

(d) the offenses differ only in that one is defined to
prohibit a designated kind of conduct generally and the
other to prohibit a specific instance of such conduct; or

(e) the offense is defined to prohibit a continuing
course of conduct and the defendant’s course of conduct
was interrupted, and unless the law provides that the spe-
cifie periods of such conduct constitute separate offenses.

(3) When prosecution barred by former prosecution.
Provided the offenses, if more than one, were known to
the attorney prosecuting upon sufficient evidence to jus-
tify the filing of an information or the issuance of a war-
rant of arrest and were consummated prior to the original
charge, and provided the jurisdiction and venue of the sev-
eral offenses lie in a single court, a prosecution based upon
the same transaction as a former prosecution is barred by
such former prosecution under the following cireum-
stances :

(a) The former prosecution resulted in an acquittal.
There is an acquittal if the prosecution resulted in a find-
ing of not guilty by the trier of fact or in a determina-
tion that there was insufficient evidence to warrant a con-
vietion. A finding of guilty of a lesser included offense
than the offense charged which is subsequently set aside is

ee ee

57

an acquittal of the greater inclusive offense that was

charged.

(b) The former prosecution was terminated, after a
complaint had been filed on a misdemeanor charge, after
an information had been filed or an indictment found on a
felony charge, by a final order of judgment for the de-
fendant, which has not been set aside, reversed, or vacated
and which necessarily required a determination inconsist-

ent with a fact or a legal proposition that must be estab-
lished for conviction of the offense.

(e) The former prosecution resulted in a conviction.
There is a conviction if the prosecution resulted in:

(i) a judgment of conviction which has not been re-
versed or vacated; or

(ii) a verdict of guilty which has not been set aside
and which is capable of supporting a judgment, so long
as failure to enter judgment was for a reason other than
a motion of the defendant; or

(iii) a plea of guilty accepted by the court, so long
as failure to enter judgment was for a reason other than
a motion of the defendant.

(d) The former prosecution was improperly termi-
nated. Except as provided in this subsection, there is an
improper termination of a prosecution if the termination
is for reasons not amounting to an acquittal, and it takes
place after the first witness is sworn but before verdict.
Termination under any of the following circumstances is
not improper:

(i) the defendant consents to the termination or
waives his right to object to the termination; or

*

58

(ii) the trial court, in the exercise of its discretion,
finds that the termination is necessary because:

(A) it is physically impossible to proceed with the
trial in conformity with law; or

(B) there is a legal defect in the proceedings which
would make any judgment entered upon a verdict revers-
ible as a matter of law; or

(C) prejudicial conduct, in or outside the courtroom,
makes it impossible to proceed with the trial without mani-
fest injustice to either the defendant or the state; or

(D) the jury is unable to agree upon a verdict; or

(E) false statements of a juror on voir dire prevent
a fair trial.

(4) Former prosecution in another jurisdiction—
when a bar. When conduct constitutes an offense within
the concurrent jurisdiction of this state and of the United
States or another state or of two courts of separate and/or
concurrent jurisdiction in this state, a prosecution in any
such other jurisdiction is a bar to a subsequent prosecu-
tion in this state under the following circumstances:

(a) The first prosecution resulted in an acquittal or
in a conviction as defined in subsection (3) and the subse-
quent prosecution is based on an offense arising out of
the same transaction.

(b) The former prosecution was terminated, after
the complaint has been filed on a misdemeanor charge,
after the information was filed or the indictment found, by
an acquittal or by a final order or judgment for the de-
fendant which has not been set aside, reversed, or vacated

———ſñ＋ñ, . ͤ———

59

and which acquittal, final order or judgment necessarily
required a determination inconsistent with a fact which
must be established for conviction of the offense of which
the defendant is subsequently prosecuted.

| (5) Former prosecution before court lacking juris-
diction or when fraudulently procured by the defendant.
A prosecution is not a bar within the meaning of subsee-
tions (3) and (4) under any of the following circumstances :

(a) the former prosecution was before a court which
lacked jurisdiction over the defendant or the offense; or

(b) the former prosecution was procured by the de-
fendant without the knowledge of the proper prosecuting

officer or with the purpose of avoiding the sentence which
might otherwise be imposed; or

(e) the former prosecution resulted in a judgnient of
conviction which was held invalid in any post-conviction
hearing.

History: En. 95-1711 by Sec. 6, Ch. 513, L. 1973.

Multiple Offenses
Upon allegation of assault and battery, rape, kidn and
1 ait arising from the same same transaction, + ~ 3
bound to prosecute them all at one time in so far as possible,
e
ex rel.
Court, — M —, 525 P. 2d 1211. N

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Source: Frix Law Library, https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/documents/brief%3Amicro_IA40385004_1720%3A01. Public record. Not legal advice.
