What percentage of mistrials are retried

A new trial for Davenport Civil Rights commissioner Latrice Lacey on domestic abuse assault charges is set for June 17th,2019. That's after the jury deadlocked last month, ending in a mistrial. Lacey's case follows similar verdicts in two other high profile cases in the area.

Table of Contents Show

How Many Criminal Cases Reach Court?
Bench Trial vs. Jury Trial
What Is a Mistrial?
What Happens after a Mistrial?
The “Double Jeopardy” Clause

The case of Annette Cahill in Muscatine County ended in a mistrial. In 2018, Stanley Liggins in Scott County ended in a mistrial. Liggins was tried again and found guilty this month, but Cahill will return to court in September. Rock Island County States Attorney, John McGehee, and Scott County States Attorney, Mike Walton, say mistrials by hung juries are becoming more common.

"It seems like the hung juries are more common the last couple of years," Walton said. "It's difficult, because you want a conclusion. You feel very strongly about a case and put a lot of work into a case. It can take one juror to cause a hung jury."

A hung jury in a criminal case is when all 12 jurors can't come to a unanimous decision.

"You need all 12," Walton said. "It can take one person, for whatever reason, to hang up a criminal trial."

"Most mistrials are juries, McGehee said. "It can be a judge too ,but usually it;s a jury."

Both attorneys mentioned social media as a reason for mistrial spikes.

"People are more individual and stick to their opinions, rather than seek a consensus," Walton said.

"There's much more on social media," McGehee said. "There's much more discussion about what goes on in the courtroom. "It's harder to get a juror who hasn't heard something about the case."

Both say another reason for cases ending in mistrials are unrealistic expectations.

"We don't necessarily have all the tools you see on television," McGehee said. "That's Hollywood."

"We call that the CSI effect," Walton said. "People have very high expectations that there is some sort of super computer or magic evidence."

Trials held in criminal courts are expensive, each cost is based on each case.

"It's a lot of money," McGehee said.

The decision to declare a mistrial is not an easy one to make.

"They are very hesitant to declare a mistrial," McGehee said.

Walton says they a necessary to a fair trial.

Scott County Judicial Clerk, Holly Swafford, told News 8, in the last 5 years, Scott County has seen roughly 30-35 cases end in mistrial.

January 14, 2020

By Bond James Bond Inc

The Sixth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution assures that every defendant facing criminal charges has the right to a public trial (At Bond James Bond, we always recommend that defendants avoid awaiting trial in jail). But what happens when a jury is unable to reach a verdict in a criminal case? And do defendants in such cases always face retrial? To answer these questions, let’s take a quick look at how the system works.

How Many Criminal Cases Reach Court?

In the U.S., 9 of 10 criminal trials never even reach the trial stage. This can happen for several possible reasons—the most common being that the defendant agrees to a plea deal rather than risk receiving a harsher sentence at trial. Another reason a case might not make it to trial is that the prosecution’s evaluation of the facts reveals insufficient evidence to pursue the case. Prosecutors will often move to dismiss a weak case rather than lose in court. Also, new evidence (such as another person confessing to the crime) can sometimes result in a prosecution being abandoned prior to trial.

Bench Trial vs. Jury Trial

If a case does go to trial, it may be decided by a judge alone or by a jury operating under a judge’s guidance. Trials presided over by a judge alone are called “bench trials,” while those decided by a jury are appropriately called “jury trials.” Generally, jury trials are reserved for defendants whose offenses could result in significant jail time (over 6 months). For this reason, most misdemeanor cases do not receive jury trials, while the majority of felonies do.

What Is a Mistrial?

A mistrial occurs when a jury fails to reach a verdict on a case. Deadlocked (or “hung”) juries are usually not declared until the empaneled jury has had a chance to review and debate the facts of a case thoroughly. And even when a jury announces that it is unable to arrive at a verdict, a judge may instruct the jurors to continue their discussions in hopes that the minority view can be pushed toward consensus. Even so, about 6% of jury trials end in a mistrial, with jurors unable to agree on the defendant’s guilt or innocence.

What Happens after a Mistrial?

If a jury becomes hopelessly deadlocked over a case and remains unable to reach consensus, the judge may choose to declare a mistrial. After a mistrial has been declared, the prosecution must decide whether they intend to pursue the case, or drop it. Prosecutors may drop a case if they believe a second trial will end in an acquittal or a second hung jury. If the prosecutor does decide to pursue the case further, he/she must say so before a judge so that a new trial date can be set and a second jury impanelled. Similarly, if the prosecution intends to drop the case, they must declare this also, so the defendant may be freed.

The “Double Jeopardy” Clause

The Fifth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution provides that no defendant should be “subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy.” This rule was put in place to prevent prosecutors from repeatedly leveling the same charge against an individual. So how do retrials get around the “double jeopardy” clause? In a sense, they don’t. Since the first case was never decided either in guilt or innocence, prosecutors may choose to pursue the case until it reaches a conclusion. If that happens, and the defendant is acquitted, prosecutors may NOT bring the same charges against the defendant again. So, in essence, the aim of a retrial is to definitively conclude the original proceedings.

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Alan Tuerkheimer Uncategorized

Famed actor and comedic celebrity Bill Cosby will be retried on three charges later this year. Last month Judge O’Neill declared a mistrial after jurors said they were unable to come to a unanimous verdict on any of the charges. Cosby, 79, did not testify in his own defense during the trial. One juror said that a retrial would be a “waste of money” because “there is no new evidence.” Is this juror right in that a retrial (assuming the State doesn’t get a “better” jury) would be a waste of time and money? The Cosby retrial raises the general question of the relationship between first trials and retrials.

Acquittal rates in criminal trials are significantly higher after hung juries than during original trials. While the actual numbers vary by state and county, as well as by state and federal criminal courts, convictions are more difficult to attain during retrials because the prosecution is mostly locked into its position by virtue of the first trial strategy. The defense has more flexibility.

In criminal cases there is only one pleading: the indictment. Presumably at the first trial, the prosecution produces its best possible case to prove the factual allegations in this pleading. If the case ends up with a hung jury, the second time around the prosecution must either proceed with the same exact case or go with what was originally considered the “B Team” or an inferior method of proving guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. As an example, say that in a bank robbery case there are 6 eye witnesses. One would think the State would call the best, let’s say 3 witnesses during Trial #1. Any change at Trial #2 would therefore not be an improvement and the defense knows this. The State will either call the same 3 witnesses or would have to call the “second rate” others.

The defense is not similarly restricted since it has not filed a factual pleading. It has simply entered a not guilty plea. If a defendant presented a case at the original trial and was not pleased with how it went, the defense can then simply not put on a case at the retrial or the reverse is true: not having presented a case at the first trial, it is free to present a defense at the retrial. Again, more options.

How else can the defense change strategy more freely during a retrial? If the defendant did not testify during Trial #1 the defense may then decide to call the defendant at Trial #2 if it appears that the failure to testify hurt the defendant at Trial #1. Conversely, if the defendant did testify at Trial #1 and didn’t do well, the defendant may not be called at Trial #2. (The prosecution can always place into evidence the transcript of Trial # 1 but that doesn’t capture essential parts for the jury.) In addition, defense cross-examination of a certain witness may have backfired at Trial #1. This would suggest either no cross at Trial #2 or a different kind of cross. At the same time, the prosecution can’t do much to change the direct examination. For example, our bank robber witness in Trial #1 said the suspect was 5’9, 200 pounds and about 45 years of age. At the retrial he cannot deviate from this testimony, and if he does the defense will have a field day on cross eliciting that he changed his testimony after strategizing with the prosecution.

Post-trial interviews of Trial #1 jurors can give the defense helpful ideas which can be implemented while there is not much the prosecution can change. Perhaps jurors were not impressed with an argument the defense made. It can be omitted in Trial #2 and something else substituted for it. Or, post-trial jury interviews might reveal that pro-defense arguments rejected by the lawyers were articulated by jurors, pointing to a better Trial #2 strategy. The State has the burden of proof so it has probably made its best arguments. Theoretically, information learned during post-trial interviews can be an advantage to both sides but more likely it benefits the defense because it has more flexibility.

Another advantage for the defense is that it essentially gets the kind of discovery that the rules of criminal procedure do not allow but is normal in civil litigation. This is an enormous advantage. In civil cases, witness lists are exchanged, and the parties depose all witnesses during the discovery stage of the case. In a criminal retrial, the defendant has the transcript of prosecution witnesses from Trial #1, the kind of discovery ordinarily limited to civil litigation.

Back to Cosby. There was seemingly enough in Cosby’s defense to hang the first jury. It is likely on retrial the defense will be stronger.