United States v. Wodtke
United States v. Wodtke
Opinion of the Court
This case is before the Court on a motion for stay filed by the defendants-appellants, seeking to prevent the District Court
We have the power, see 8th Cir.R. 12(a), to decide cases without full briefing when that action is appropriate. In our view, this is such a case. We have carefully reviewed the relevant portions of the trial transcript, as well as the papers filed by all defendants and by the United States with respect to the motion for stay, and we believe that the contentions of the parties on the double-jeopardy issue are fully set forth in these papers. Here, the mistrial was granted on motion of all defendants. It is true that certain other corrective measures were preferred by counsel for the defense — for example, striking the testimony of all Government witnesses who had been briefed by the offending agent — , but it is also true that defendants persisted in their desire that a mistrial be declared even after learning that the alternatives they preferred would not be accepted by the Court. The Supreme Court has recently held that when a mistrial is granted on the motion of a defendant, a new trial is barred by double jeopardy only if “the conduct giving rise to the successful motion for a mistrial was (prosecutorial or judicial conduct) intended
Accordingly, a second trial is not barred by the Double Jeopardy Clause of the Fifth Amendment. The judgment of the District Court, denying defendants’ motion to dismiss the indictment after the declaration of the mistrial, is affirmed. The motion for stay of the second trial is denied as moot.
It is so ordered.
. The Hon. Donald E. O’Brien, United States District Judge for the Northern District of Iowa.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- United States v. Gary Lynn WODTKE and Sharon Lynn Wodtke, Appellants UNITED STATES of America v. Leonhard, Bruce, and June WODTKE, Appellants UNITED STATES of America v. Eugene Francis WILLEMS
- Cited By
- 1 case
- Status
- Published