![]() So, the judge could decide to grant the motion and acquit the defendants. The defense in the chicken case made this motion during the second trial. If the court reserves decision, it must decide the motion on the basis of the evidence at the time the ruling was reserved.” However, under Rule 29(b), the “court may reserve decision on the motion, proceed with the trial (where the motion is made before the close of all the evidence), submit the case to the jury, and decide the motion either before the jury returns a verdict or after it returns a verdict of guilty or is discharged without having returned a verdict. Defense counsel make the motion at the end of the government’s case and at the end of the whole case, arguing that the court should enter a judgment of acquittal for the defendant because there is not enough evidence to convict.Ĭourts almost always deny these motions, sometimes with just a few minutes of argument. For most cases, this is a pro forma motion, meaning that it never wins. Under Rule 29, the defense can make a motion for judgment of acquittal or MJOA. There are two ways for the court to put an end to this third trial.įirst, it could grant a motion for judgment of acquittal filed by the defense and find that there was insufficient evidence to convict the defendants at the second trial. ![]() (9 Wheat) 579 (1824), that when a criminal trial results in a hung jury, the Double Jeopardy Clause does not stop the government from trying the case again. Unfortunately, the United States Supreme Court held in United States v. be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb”. The Double Jeopardy Clause of the Fifth Amendment sounds so good: “No person shall. You may be screaming, “but, Sara, what about the Double Jeopardy Clause? Doesn’t that stop the government from trying the same case a second time?” He ordered the head of the Antitrust Division to show up to justify its decision to try the case a third time. The judge is clearly frustrated at DOJ for seeking a third trial. Multiply those hours by hourly rates in the $700 to $1200 range, and you can only imagine how much these clients have paid. When I’m in trial, I’m regularly working 14 hour days for the month before trial and the entire time I’m in trial, including weekends. They are multi-week trials in federal court, eating up the time of the judge, the court staff, jurors, lawyers, and the people on trial. But it’s doubling tripling down on the remaining five and seeking to try them a third time. The government at this point dismissed the charges against five of the ten defendants. There was a second hung jury and a second mistrial. The government tried the case a second time. There was a hung jury the first time around. This is a massive case with ten defendants. That is what has happened in a criminal antitrust case in Denver, Colorado about alleged price-fixing in the chicken-processing industry. Well, the government can keep taking the case to trial-in theory-until a jury reaches either a unanimous acquittal or a unanimous guilty verdict. Let’s say the second jury also cannot reach a unanimous verdict and the court grants a second mistrial. ![]() ![]() However, if you think a mistrial is the end of the case, you’d be wrong.Īfter a mistrial, the government can decide to take the case to trial a second time. This is generally considered a “win” by defense lawyers, because it is extremely difficult to win a complete acquittal. When the jury cannot reach a unanimous verdict, it’s called a hung jury. If there is an acquittal, then the case is over, and the government cannot try again. For the defendant to win at trial, he must convince all 12 jurors to vote for acquittal. For the government to win at trial, it must convince all 12 jurors to vote guilty. ![]()
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