Ex Parte Lewis

219 S.W.3d 335, 2007 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 33, 2007 WL 57823
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Texas
DecidedJanuary 10, 2007
DocketPD-0577-05
StatusPublished
Cited by488 cases

This text of 219 S.W.3d 335 (Ex Parte Lewis) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Ex Parte Lewis, 219 S.W.3d 335, 2007 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 33, 2007 WL 57823 (Tex. 2007).

Opinions

OPINION

KELLER, P.J.,

delivered the opinion of the Court

in which WOMACK, KEASLER, HERVEY, and COCHRAN, JJ., joined.

In Oregon v. Kennedy, the United States Supreme Court held that the Fifth Amendment’s Double Jeopardy Clause barred retrial after a defendant successfully moved for mistrial only when it was shown that the prosecutor engaged in conduct that was “intended to provoke the defendant into moving for a mistrial.”1 In [337]*337Bauder v. State, we interpreted the Double Jeopardy provision of the Texas Constitution more expansively, to cover “reckless” conduct, holding that retrial would also be barred “when the prosecutor was aware but consciously disregarded the risk that an objectionable event for which he was responsible would require a mistrial at the defendant’s request.”2 We granted review to reexamine Bander’s holding.3 We conclude that Bauder should be overruled and that the proper rule under the Texas Constitution is the rule articulated by the United States Supreme Court in Oregon v. Kennedy.

I. BACKGROUND

Appellant called 911 after killing her husband. When officers arrived, they placed her in a patrol car, and eventually she was taken to the police station. At the scene and at the station, appellant gave statements after receiving Miranda4 warnings. At trial, the prosecutor asked three sets of questions that the court of appeals deemed relevant to its analysis. First, the prosecutor asked the crime scene officer, “When you met with [Appellant] Swanda Wiley, is that the name that she was giving you then?”5 Second, while the prosecutor cross-examined appellant, the following occurred:

Q. Did you ever tell the 911 operator [Kenneth Wiley] had been raping [you], he had been attacking [you]?
A. No.
Q. In fact, you never told any law enforcement about the rape? 6

The next day, during further cross-examination of appellant, the following occurred:

Q. After speaking with [Detective] John McCaskill on August 10th of the year 2000, did you have occasion to learn the next day, on August 11th of the year 2000, John McCaskill wanted to speak with you again?
A. Yes.
Q. And you denied him opportunity to speak — 7

After the first question, and after the last question in each of the two succeeding sequences, defense counsel objected that the prosecutor had commented on the defendant’s post-arrest silence in violation of Article 38.08 of the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure, Article I, § 10 of the Texas Constitution, and the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution.8 All three objections were sustained, and instructions to disregard were requested and given in connection with the second two sets of questions.9 A mistrial was not requested on the first question, was requested and denied with regard to [338]*338the second set of questions, and was granted after the third set of questions.10

Appellant later filed a pretrial habeas application, claiming that any subsequent prosecution was barred under double jeopardy principles, but the trial court denied relief.11 After discussing this Court’s latest opinion on the Bauder standard,12 the court of appeals reversed, holding that “the prosecutor, at the least, engaged in this conduct with conscious disregard for a substantial risk that the trial court would be required to declare a mistrial.” 13

II. STARE DECISIS

In conducting a re-examination of precedent, we keep in mind the strong preference for adhering to past decisions: “Often it is better to be consistent than right.”14 Precedent can be overruled, however, if the reasons for doing so are weighty enough.15 Some factors supporting the overruling of precedent are: (1) that the original rule or decision was flawed from the outset,16 (2) that the rule’s application produces inconsistent results,17 (3) that the rule conflicts with other precedent, especially when the other precedent is newer and more soundly reasoned,18 (4) that the rule regularly produces results that are unjust, that are unanticipated by the principle underlying the rule, or that place unnecessary burdens on the system,19 and (5) that the reasons that support the rule have been undercut with the passage of time.20

The State points to, and disputes, two currently accepted legal propositions upon which Bander’s holding rests. The first is that the Texas double jeopardy protection embraces the mistrial setting. The second is that the Texas double jeopardy protection imposes a different standard than its Fifth Amendment counterpart for determining when a defense-requested mistrial can properly be attributed to the State for the purpose of barring further prosecution. Overruling either of these legal propositions would result in eliminating the rule announced in Bauder. We will examine each proposition in light of the factors articulated above.

III. MISTRIALS

A. The Issues

The State contends that, properly construed, the Texas double jeopardy provision does not apply to the mistrial setting. This contention has also been advanced in dissenting opinions in Bauder and its progeny.21 If this interpretation were adopted, [339]*339the result would be to hold that, in some respects, the Texas constitutional provision actually provides less protection than its Fifth Amendment counterpart, and as a result of the way in which it provides less protection, would obviate any inquiry in this ease into whether it might be more expansive in other respects.22 In the language of Hulit, if the mistrial setting is not part of the state double jeopardy “building,” then one has no occasion to determine whether that building contains a recklessness “floor” not found in the federal double jeopardy building.23

The State makes two basic arguments in support of its position. First, the State claims that the “mistrial species” of double jeopardy jurisprudence was not part of the common law that formed the basis for the Texas constitutional provision. Relying upon Justice Powell’s dissenting opinion in Crist v. Bretz,24 the State contends that, instead, the “mistrial species” traces its lineage through English common law to an independent rule of jury practice, formulated by Lord Coke, that prohibited needless discharges of the jury.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
219 S.W.3d 335, 2007 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 33, 2007 WL 57823, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ex-parte-lewis-texcrimapp-2007.