STATE OF MINNESOTA
IN SUPREME COURT
C0-98-1247
| Court of Appeals | Lancaster, J. |
|
State of Minnesota,
vs. Susan Leroy, petitioner,
|
Filed: December 30, 1999
Office of Appellate Courts |
S Y L L A B U S
When a mistrial is granted on defendant's motion after acquittal, double jeopardy principles render the mistrial void. Retrial after an acquittal is barred by the Double Jeopardy Clause of both the Minnesota and United States Constitutions.
Reversed and remanded.
Considered and decided by the court en banc without oral argument.
O P I N I O N
The issue presented in this case arose in an unusual context in which defense counsel moved for a mistrial after learning that the defendant had been found not guilty of one of two charges against her. Because the motion was made after the jury's verdict was read into the record and the jury polled, we hold that double jeopardy bars retrial on the count of acquittal. No motion for a new trial on the count of conviction was made, and we remand to permit the defendant to do that if she so chooses.
On May 13, 1998, Susan Lynn Leroy was tried in Otter Tail County on charges of fifth-degree assault, Minn. Stat.