State v. Calhoun
State v. Calhoun
Opinion of the Court
While the appeal is from the judgment holding that this defendant cannot be retried, the challenge is to the exercise of discretion by the trial court in granting defendant’s motion for mistrial and directing that defendant be retried. In reviewing the facts and circumstances surrounding the trial court’s granting of defendant’s motion for mistrial, we deal (1) with the consequences of a less than complete compliance with a demand for disclosure under Wisconsin law, and (2) with the applicability of double jeopardy provisions of the state
Where the claim, is one of double jeopardy under a mistrial with retrial order, the United States Supreme Court has held that such cases “. . . turn on the particular facts and thus escape meaningful categorization . ...”
Three possibilities exist as to the propriety and consequences of the trial court here granting defendant’s motion for a mistrial. The first, urged by the defendant, is that the trial court acted properly in doing what it did, but did not go far enough. Having declared a mistrial, the trial court was here required to accompany the granting of defendant’s motion with an order dismissing the charges. The second possibility, urged by the state on appeal, is that the trial court was entitled to declare
Four days before the trial began, defense counsel served on the district attorney’s office a demand for disclosure of any evidence in the possession of the state “. . . tending to exculpate the defendant of the commission of this offense, or to minimize his complicity in it.” At the time of the demand, the district attorney assigned to the case had in his possession police notes or summaries regarding: (1) A statement by Ronald Calhoun, son of the defendant, that the victim had reached into his pocket and pulled out a gun immediately before the fatal shooting; and (2) a statement by John Calhoun, also a son of the defendant, to the same effect; and (3) a statement by Rose Wesley, niece or cousin or friend of defendant, that she saw the victim reach into his pocket prior to being shot by the defendant. With self-defense claimed, these statements were exculpatory in nature. In his affidavit in support of the state’s motion to vacate the dismissal, the assistant prosecutor stated that, acting in good faith, he did not furnish these statements to the defense believing that the statements of the two sons and the niece were available to the defendant and that they would say to their father or uncle no less than they said to the police on his behalf. It was the prosecutor’s interpretation of the law in this state that he was not required to furnish exculpatory information to the defendant that was not in the exclusive possession of the state and was equally available to the defense.
As to whether exculpatory material, not in the exclusive possession of the state, must be turned over on demand for disclosure, the applicability of the state discovery statute would make no difference. Under that statute, in regard to its witness list exchange requirement, in Irby v. State,
As to the factual issue of whether the information not here disclosed was or was not in the exclusive possession of the state, we turn to the record. That does not take long for there is very nearly no record at all on the issue presented. What there is limits itself to an announcement, a motion and a statement by defense counsel. Prior to taking the testimony of the state’s last witness, during a recess, defense counsel announced that he had learned of a matter “. . . which prompts a motion.” He requested and received court permission to make the motion after the state’s case was completed. Defense counsel then stated that he had learned that three summaries of statements made by witnesses to the police had not been furnished by the state to the defense, and made defendant’s motion for mistrial. He alleged that the statements were exculpatory in nature and that he could not obtain the information in any other way. The
No supporting affidavit was offered and no testimony was taken as to the manner or circumstances under which the defense learned of the information in the police summaries containing statements made by the two sons and the niece or cousin or friend of the defendant. No inquiry was made as to whether, prior to trial, the sons or niece had told defendant or his counsel what they told the police following the fatal shooting. This record does not satisfactorily exclude the possibility that the sons and niece had not furnished to the defendant, not only the same information given to the police as to what happened, but also the fact that they had earlier given the police that same information. Certainly they were completely available for such questions being asked and such answers given.
With the duty to disclose under Nelson-Brady limited to evidence or testimony which is in the exclusive possession of the state, we move from disclosure to discovery. The two words are not synonymous.
If the record here had established a proper foundation for finding that a Nelson-Brady duty to disclose evidence in the exclusive possession of the state had been violated, it is clear that declaring a mistrial was not the only curative option before the trial court. Long before the statute made it an appropriate consequence for noncompliance with requirements as to discovery and inspection, this court, in Wold v. State,
Trial court’s granting mistrial with retrial.
Here the trial court, finding that the state had failed to disclose to defendant, after demand, summaries of statements made by the two sons and a niece or cousin or friend of defendant to the police officers after the shooting, exculpatory in nature, granted defendant’s motion for mistrial, made after the state rested, and had the case assigned to a different judge for retrial. The judge to whom the case was assigned for retrial held that double jeopardy prohibitions of the state and federal constitutions barred retrial and dismissed the charge of first-degree murder against the defendant. With the provisions of both state and federal constitutions as to double jeopardy being identical in scope and purpose, we accept as completely controlling the decisions of the United States Supreme Court as to mistrial with retrial, and seek to apply them here to the facts of this case.
The constitutional prohibition against double jeopardy is stated in its fifth amendment to be: “. . . nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb . . . .” In an early case, United States v. Perez,
In the case before us we have a mistrial, granted on motion of the defendant and declared in the interest of justice by the trial court. Our court, in this opinion, has indicated serious doubts as to whether granting a recess or continuance, which was an available alternative to declaring a mistrial, would not have been a more appropriate consequence for the claimed lack of full compliance with a demand for disclosure under these facts
The defendant by counsel sees an exception to the general rule of permitting retrial after mistrial, even where the defendant moved for the mistrial and his motion was granted, and sees this exception created by the comparatively recent United States Supreme Court cases of United States v. Tateo,
The exception to the general rule derives not from the holding but from a footnote in the Tateo decision.
When the Tateo reference to different considerations applying where prosecutorial or judicial impropriety justifying a mistrial “resulted from a fear that the jury was likely to acquit the accused,” reappeared in the Jorn Case,
In the case before us we have a mistrial declared in the interest of justice, not only on motion of the defendant but solely and entirely for his benefit. Under the Gori definition, it is certainly “a mistrial granted in the sole interest of the defendant,” and such mistrial, under Gori, does not bar retrial.
Additionally, in the case before us, the interpretation as to the law and belief as to the facts cannot be found to be conduct “designed to avoid acquittal.” Under both Jorn and Tateo, the judicial or prosecutorial impropriety that warrants banning retrial after mistrial must be “designed to avoid an acquittal.” There is no way that a prosecutorial error in judgment, even if labeled as an
Finally, in the case before us, we have no more than a defense claim of less than complete compliance with a defense demand for disclosure of all exculpatory “. . . evidence, tangible or otherwise,” to quote the demand, served on the district attorney four days before trial. The claim of noncompliance does not relate to surprise witnesses or unexpectedly damaging evidence, but solely to exculpatory statements made by the two sons and a niece or cousin or friend of the defendant. We have held earlier in this opinion that the defendant could have requested, and the trial court could have granted, a continuance or recess for defense counsel to inspect the statements earlier made as an entirely appropriate consequence of the claimed incomplete disclosure. With such alternative corrective measure available, with continuity of the original trial not interrupted, we see no suggestion in Gori, Tateo or Jorn that the defendant, electing to seek and securing the more drastic consequence of a mistrial, is entitled to raise and prevail on the issue of double jeopardy on the basis of the mistrial granted at his behest and on his behalf.
We conclude that the trial court did not err in directing a retrial after granting defendant’s motion for a mistrial. We further conclude that the judge to whom the case was assigned for such trial, did err in holding that the double jeopardy provisions of either the state or federal constitution barred such retrial. The judgment
By the Court. — Judgment and order reversed, and cause remanded for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.
Art. I, sec. 8, Wisconsin Constitution, providing in material part: “. . . and no person for the same offense shall be put twice in jeopardy of punishment . . . .”
Art. V, Amendments to the United States Constitution, providing in material part: “. . . nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb . . .
Illinois v. Somerville (1973), 410 U. S. 458, 464, 93 Sup. Ct. 1066, 35 L. Ed. 2d 425.
Id. at page 468, the high court, at pages 462, 463, stating: “In reviewing the propriety of the trial judge’s exercise of his discretion, this Court . . . has scrutinized the action to determine whether, in the context of that particular trial, the declaration of a mistrial was dictated by ‘manifest necessity’ or the ‘ends of public justice.’ ...”
Id. at pages 467, 468, the high court stating: “. . . But in cases in which a mistrial has been declared prior to verdict, the conclusion that jeopardy has attached begins, rather than ends, the inquiry as to whether the Double Jeopardy Clause bars retrial. That, indeed, was precisely the rationale of Perez [United States v. Perez (1824), 22 U. S. (9 Wheat.) 579, 6 L. Ed. 165] and subsequent cases. Only if jeopardy has attached is a court called upon to determine whether the declaration of a mistrial was required by ‘manifest necessity’ or the ‘ends of public justice.’ ”
Sec. 971.23, Stats.
Id. providing that: “(1) . . . Upon demand, the district attorney shall permit the defendant ... to inspect and copy or photograph any written or recorded statement concerning the alleged crime made by the defendant . . . furnish the defendant with a written summary of all oral statements of the defendant which he plans to use in the course of the trial. The names of witnesses to the written and oral statements which the state plans to use in the court of the trial shall also be furnished.
“(2) . . . Upon demand prior to trial . . . furnish the defendant a copy of his criminal record ....
“(3) ... (a) A defendant may, not less than 16 days nor more than 30 days before trial, serve ... an offer in writing to furnish the state a list of all witnesses the defendant intends to call at the trial, whereupon . . . the district attorney shall furnish the defendant a list of all witnesses and their addresses whom he intends to call at the trial. . . .
“(4) ... all parties shall produce at a reasonable time and place designated by the court all physical evidence which each party intends to introduce in evidence. . . .
“(7) ... If, subsequent to compliance with a requirement of this section, and prior to or during trial, a party discovers additional material or the names of additional witnesses requested which are subject to discovery, inspection or production hereunder, he shall promptly notify the other party of the existence of the additional material or names. . . .” (Emphasis supplied.)
Britton v. State (1969), 44 Wis. 2d 109, 117, 118, 170 N. W. 2d 785.
Nelson v. State (1973), 59 Wis. 2d 474, 479, 208 N. W. 2d 410, this court holding: “The state has the affirmative duty to disclose to the defendant or his counsel any material or information within its possession or control which tends to negate the guilt of the defendant or would tend to reduce his punishment therefor. . .
Brady v. Maryland (1963), 373 U. S. 83, 87, 88, 83 Sup. Ct. 1194, 10 L. Ed. 2d 216, the high court holding: “We now hold that the suppression by the prosecution of evidence favorable to an accused upon request violates due process where the evidence is material either to guilt or to punishment, irrespective of the good faith or bad faith of the prosecution.
"... A prosecution that withholds evidence on demand of an accused which, if made available, would tend to exculpate him or reduce the penalty helps shape a trial that bears heavily on the defendant. That casts the prosecutor in the role of an architect of a proceeding. . . .”
See: Sec. 971.23, Stats., supra, footnote 7.
(1973), 60 Wis. 2d 311, 210 N. W. 2d 755.
Id. at page 322.
(1971), 50 Wis. 2d 449, 184 N. W. 2d 75.
Id. at page 457, quoting Giles v. Maryland (1967), 386 U. S. 66, 87 Sup. Ct. 793, 17 L. Ed. 2d 737. See also: Mikulovsky v. State (1972), 54 Wis. 2d 699, 722, 196 N. W. 2d 748, as to claimed duty of district attorney to disclose to defense counsel, prior to enactment of the discovery statute, the recorded confession of the defendant, this court finding no error and holding: “. . . However, it appears that defense counsel was fully aware of the confession and its contents prior to the hearing, as evidenced by references thereto in the various affidavits submitted to the trial court. . . .”
Nelson v. State, supra, footnote 9, at page 484.
Id. at page 481, this court also stating: “. . . there is precedent for the proposition that evidence, material on the issue of accused’s guilt or innocence, should be disclosed to the accused even though it goes only to the credibility of a witness.” See also: Britton v. State, supra, footnote 8, at page 118, holding:
(1972), 405 U. S. 150, 92 Sup. Ct. 763, 31 L. Ed. 2d 104.
Id. at page 154, quoting United States v. Keogh (2d Cir. 1968), 391 Fed. 2d 138, 148.
See: Dumer v. State (1974), 64 Wis. 2d 590, 604, 219 N. W. 2d 592, where defendant complained that the prosecution had willfully suppressed exculpatory evidence known to it, this court holding: . . This evidence, whatever it might be, could have been discovered prior to trial. Defense counsel had an opportunity to question the prosecution witnesses and did not. . . . Dumer offered no excuse or reason for his failure to question these prospective witnesses before trial. . . .”
Britton v. State, supra, footnote 8, at pages 117, 118, this court stating: “A distinction must be made between ‘disclosure’ and ‘discovery.’ Discovery emphasizes the right of the defense to obtain access to evidence necessary to prepare its own case, while disclosure concerns itself with the duty of the prosecution to make available to the accused the evidence and testimony which, as a minimum standard, is exculpatory based on constitutional standards of due process. . . .”
Sec. 971.23 (7), Stats., supra, footnote 7.
Sec. 971.23, Stats.
Sec. 971.23 (7), Stats., supra, footnote 7.
(1973), 57 Wis. 2d 344, 204 N. W. 2d 482.
Id. at page 351.
(1973), 60 Wis. 2d 311, 210 N. W. 2d 755 (footnote 12).
Id. at page 322, citing Williams v. State (Fla. District Court of Appeal 1972), 264 So. 2d 106.
Wade v. Hunter (1949), 336 U. S. 684, 689, 69 Sup. Ct. 834, 93 L. Ed. 974, the United States Supreme Court holding: . . What has been said is enough to show that a defendant’s valued right to have his trial completed by a particular tribunal must in some instances be subordinated to the public’s interest in fair trials designed to end in just judgments.”
Illinois v. Somerville, supra, footnote 3, at page 468.
(1824), 22 U. S. (9 Wheat.) 579, 6 L. Ed. 165 (footnote 5).
Id. at page 580.
(1961), 367 U. S. 364, 81 Sup. Ct. 1523, 6 L. Ed. 2d 901.
Id. at pages 367, 368.
Id. at page 368, quoting Brock v. North Carolina (1953), 344 U. S. 424, 427, 73 Sup. Ct. 349, 97 L. Ed. 456.
(1964), 377 U. S. 463, 84 Sup. Ct. 1587, 12 L. Ed. 2d 448.
(1971), 400 U. S. 470, 91 Sup. Ct. 547, 27 L. Ed. 2d 543.
United States v. Tateo, supra, footnote 36, at page 468, footnote 3.
Id. at pages 467, 468, the high court adding: “See Gori v. United States, 367 U. S., at 368; see also 367 U. S., at 370 (dissenting opinion of Douglas, J.). . .
Id. at page 468, referring to Gori v. United States, supra, footnote 33.
United States v. Jorn, supra, footnote 37, at page 485.
Id. at page 485.
Id. at page 485, footnote 12.
Id. at page 489, Mr. Justice Stewart, dissenting.
Gori v. United States, supra, footnote 33, at page 369.
Michigan v. Tucker (1974), 417 U. S. 433, 446, 94 Sup. Ct. 2357, 41 L. Ed. 2d 182, the high court stating: “Just as the law does not require that a defendant receive a perfect trial, only a fair one, it cannot realistically require that policemen investigating serious crimes make no errors whatsoever. The pressures of law enforcement and the vagaries of human nature would make such an expectation unrealistic. . . .”
No claim is here made that the assistant district attorney who responded to defendant’s demand for disclosure did not act in entire good faith. An attorney representing the defendant on the motion to vacate the order of dismissal, stated on behalf of the defendant: “We are not accusing Mr. Donohue of unprofessional conduct or making some deliberate effort to convict an innocent defendant. That’s not what we are saying. We are not trying to paint him with a handle bar mustache and a black hat. . «
Dissenting Opinion
(dissenting). I, would affirm. Retrial here would constitute a violation of the double jeopardy provision of both the United States
The prosecutor was in error in not giving to the defense the three exculpatory statements from the police file when they were requested by defense counsel in the pretrial discovery notice. The three statements definitely go to the principal defense contended for by counsel— self-defense. It does not matter whether the witnesses had also told their stories to defense counsel. These statements had independent value as exculpatory material. They would enhance the credibility of these three witnesses at the trial and they would serve to refresh recollections not only to those who made the statements, but also of the police officers to whom the statements were made.
Circuit Judge Hugh R. O’Connell, in granting the defense mistrial motion, stated:
“. . . my review of the documents . . . satisfies me that this is the type of matter which is encompassed by Brady and Giles and should have been produced to the defense at the appropriate stage of these proceedings, for it need not be that the matter tends to exculpate com*228 pletely or is completely exculpatory of the guilt of the defendant, it is simply necessary that the matter is exculpatory or might tend to be exculpatory.
“It occurs to me further that this is material which very appropriately could have prompted cross-examination which, absent an opportunity to review the files in question, could not be conducted; and without saying too much further, it might also tend to show the foundation or lay the foundation for impeachment purposes.
“Consequently, my review indicates that it is material which the State had the duty to disclose to the defense. Now, what sanctions are to be imposed for a failure to comply with the rules set down in Brady and Giles I have never been quite sure of, but I am sure of this, that the only sanction that is applicable here in the interests of justice is to grant the motion for a mistrial made by Mr. Shellow, which I now do. Motion is granted.”
When the case was reassigned to Circuit Judge Max Raskin, he granted the motion to dismiss on the ground that retrial would violate the constitutional prohibitions against placing defendants in double jeopardy. He stated:
“The prosecutor knew the effect of the material in his possession. Failure to turn over the statements cannot be said to be due to negligence, inadvertence or excusable oversight. It was a deliberate act, the result of which had the effect of interfering with the defendant’s complete opportunity of cross examining State’s witnesses. His right to a fair trial and due process were therefore denied.
“To subject the defendant to another trial would place him in double jeopardy in violation of both the State and Federal Constitutions.”
Two reasons are given by the majority why the double jeopardy provisions of the United States and Wisconsin Constitutions do not prevent retrial here: No. 1, the prosecutor acted in “good faith” in not turning over the statements, and No. 2, the fact that defendant had moved for a mistrial now bars him from asserting that double jeopardy bars the new trial.
In the recent United States Supreme Court case of Illinois v. Somerville
“. . . the declaration of a mistrial on the basis of a rule or a defective procedure that would lend itself to prosecutorial manipulation would involve an entirely different question, cf. Downum v. United States . . . .”7
In Downum
The fact that defense counsel himself moved for mistrial does not mean he has waived the right to assert double jeopardy as a defense to retrial. In Gori v. United States, the supreme court held that retrial was permissible following a mistrial declared in the sole interests of the defendant. The majority heavily relies on this test. However, Gori was expressly repudiated in United States v. Jorn, where the court said that deciding double jeopardy questions based on:
“. . . an appellate court’s assessment of which side benefited from the mistrial ruling does not adequately satisfy the policies underpinning the double jeopardy provision. Reprosecution after a mistrial has unnecessarily been declared by the trial court obviously subjects the defendant to the same personal strain and insecurity regardless of the motivation underlying the trial judge’s action.”9
In Jorn the defendant was charged with willfully assisting in the preparation of fraudulent income tax returns. The trial judge declared a mistrial sua sponte based on his belief that certain government witnesses, clients of defendant, had not been sufficiently warned about possible criminal liability flowing from their testimony. The United States Supreme Court held the mistrial improvidently granted and therefore ruled that the double jeopardy clause barred retrial.
“. . . where circumstances develop not attributable to prosecutorial or judicial overreaching, a motion by the defendant for mistrial is ordinarily assumed to remove any barrier to reprosecution even if the defendant’s motion is necessitated by prosecutorial or judicial error.”11
The court added in a footnote:
“Conversely, where a defendant’s mistrial motion is necessitated by judicial or prosecutorial impropriety designed to avoid an acquittal, reprosecution might well be barred. Cf. United States v. Tateo . . . .”12
In United States v. Tateo,
“. . . If Tateo had requested a mistrial on the basis of the judge’s comments, there would be no doubt that if he had been successful, the Government would not have been barred from retrying him.”14
However, the court qualified this conclusion in a footnote :
*232 “If there were any intimation in a case that prosecu-torial or judicial impropriety justifying a mistrial resulted from a fear that the jury was likely to acquit the accused, different considerations would, of course, obtain.”15
Thus it is clear, as far as the United States Supreme Court is concerned, the determination of whether retrial is possible following mistrial is made by balancing the interests of the defendant and the state, not by application of mechanical rules. Ordinarily, where the defendant himself moves for mistrial, he waives any right to claim that retrial is barred. However, where his motion is necessitated by “prosecutorial or judicial overreaching,” there is no waiver. Retrial is prohibited where the prosecutorial or judicial action causing the mistrial was “designed to avoid an acquittal,” or where the rule or defective procedure leading to mistrial “would lend itself to prosecutorial manipulation.”
Clearly the knowing refusal to release exculpatory evidence prior to trial is this kind of procedure and I would hold that the defendant may not be retried. This severe sanction is necessary if the double jeopardy provisions of both the federal and Wisconsin constitutions are to have meaning, and if the basic constitutional rights of citizens accused of crime are to be protected. Dismissal is strong medicine, but as the United States Supreme Court said in Brady:
. . Society wins not only when the guilty are convicted but when criminal trials are fair; our system of the administration of justice suffers when any accused is treated unfairly.”16
I have been authorized to state that Mr. Justice Hep-pernan joins in this dissent.
U. S. Const. amend. V.
Wis. Const. art. I, sec. 8.
(1963), 373 U. S. 83, 83 Sup. Ct. 1194, 10 L. Ed. 2d 215.
Id. at page 87. Accord: Nelson v. State (1973), 59 Wis. 2d 474, 208 N. W. 2d 410.
(1973), 410 U. S. 458, 93 Sup. Ct. 1066, 35 L. Ed. 2d 425.
Id. at page 464. For an example of the kind of error leading to mistrial that should not defeat retrial, see State v. Elkinton (1972), 56 Wis. 2d 497, 202 N. W. 2d 28.
Downum v. United States (1963), 372 U. S. 734, 83 Sup. Ct. 1033, 10 L. Ed. 2d 100.
(1971), 400 U. S. 470, 483, 91 Sup. Ct. 547, 27 L. Ed. 2d 543.
The supreme court said that the trial court insufficiently considered alternative procedures, such as a continuance, and thereby foreclosed “the defendant from a potentially favorable
Id. at page 485.
Id. at page 485, note 12.
(1964), 377 U. S. 463, 84 Sup. Ct. 1587, 12 L. Ed. 2d 448.
Id. at page 467.
Id. at page 468, note 3.
Brady v. Maryland (1963), 373 U. S. 83, 87, 83 Sup. Ct. 1194, 10 L. Ed. 2d 215.
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