Where an indigent defendant is retried following a hung jury, the state courts refusal to provide a full transcript of the first trial for use at the second trial violates his right to due process and equal protection, and reversal is required. The federal court here held that clearly established Supreme Court law requires that a defendant in these circumstances be provided with a complete rather than a partial transcript. Further, where significant and crucial portions of the proceedings are omitted, the error will generally be prejudicial to an indigent defendants ability to prepare a defense. In this case, such prejudice was evident from the record, where the defendants counsel was unfamiliar with testimony from the first trial and the prosecution took advantage of that lack of familiarity. Thus, the error required reversal.
Case Summaries