After a jury had been empaneled, the court discovered there had been no inquiry by the clerk’s office regarding financial hardship, and after unsuccessfully attempting to find ways of paying the four jurors who were not compensated by their employers, the court declared a mistrial, finding a manifest necessity existed. The defense objected. The Ninth Circuit held the record did not support a finding of manifest necessity. The jurors themselves were not asked their views on the financial hardship issue and the trial was expected to last about four days, two of which had already passed. Thus, appellant could not be retried.
Case Summaries