''Oregon v. Kennedy'', 456 U.S. 667 (1982), was a
United States Supreme Court
The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...
decision dealing with the appropriate test for determining whether a criminal defendant has been "goaded" by the prosecution's bad actions into motioning for a
mistrial
In law, a trial is a coming together of parties to a dispute, to present information (in the form of evidence) in a tribunal, a formal setting with the authority to adjudicate claims or disputes. One form of tribunal is a court. The tribunal, w ...
. This matters because the answer determines whether a defendant can be retried. Ordinarily, a defendant who requests a mistrial can be forced to stand trial a second time, see ''
United States v. Dinitz''. However, if the prosecution's conduct was "intended to provoke the defendant into moving for a mistrial,"
double jeopardy
In jurisprudence, double jeopardy is a procedural defence (primarily in common law jurisdictions) that prevents an accused person from being tried again on the same (or similar) charges following an acquittal or conviction and in rare case ...
protects the defendant from retrial. The Court emphasized that only prosecutorial actions where the ''intent'' is to provoke a mistrial — and not mere "harassment" or "overreaching" — trigger the double jeopardy protection.
[.]
Background
Kennedy was charged with stealing an oriental rug. During the first trial, the State of
Oregon
Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...
called as a witness an expert on Middle Eastern rugs who could testify as to the value and the identity of the rug in question. The prosecutor had the following exchange with the witness:
Based on this exchange, Kennedy moved for a mistrial, and the trial judge granted the motion. When the state then attempted to retry Kennedy, he moved to dismiss the charges because of double jeopardy.
The
Oregon Court of Appeals
The Oregon Court of Appeals is the state intermediate appellate court in the US state of Oregon. Part of the Oregon Judicial Department, it has thirteen judges and is located in Salem. Except for death penalty cases, which are reserved to the O ...
found in Kennedy's favor. The Court of Appeals ruled that the prosecution had not meant to force a mistrial, but still sided with Kennedy because it viewed the prosecution as "overreaching."
Opinion of the Court
The Supreme Court then rejected the standard used by the Court of Appeals, stressing that only "conduct ''intended'' to provoke the defendant into moving for a mistrial" would protect a defendant from a second trial following a mistrial.
See also
*
List of United States Supreme Court cases
This page serves as an index of lists of United States Supreme Court cases. The United States Supreme Court is the highest federal court of the United States.
By Chief Justice
Court historians and other legal scholars consider each Chief J ...
*
List of United States Supreme Court cases, volume 456
This is a list of all the United States Supreme Court cases from volume 456 of the ''United States Reports
The ''United States Reports'' () are the official record ( law reports) of the Supreme Court of the United States. They include rulings ...
References
External links
*
1982 in United States case law
United States Supreme Court cases
United States Supreme Court cases of the Burger Court
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