United States v. Jorn

400 U.S. 470, 91 S. Ct. 547, 27 L. Ed. 2d 543, 1971 U.S. LEXIS 146, 27 A.F.T.R.2d (RIA) 552
CourtSupreme Court of the United States
DecidedJanuary 25, 1971
Docket19
StatusPublished
Cited by2,203 cases

This text of 400 U.S. 470 (United States v. Jorn) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of the United States primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Jorn, 400 U.S. 470, 91 S. Ct. 547, 27 L. Ed. 2d 543, 1971 U.S. LEXIS 146, 27 A.F.T.R.2d (RIA) 552 (1971).

Opinions

Mr. Justice Harlan

announced the judgment of the Court in an opinion joined by The Chief Justice, Mr. Justice Douglas, and Mr. Justice Marshall.

The Government directly appeals the order of the United States District Court for the District of Utah dismissing, on the ground of former jeopardy, an information charging the defendant-appellee with willfully assisting in the preparation of fraudulent income tax returns, in violation of 26 U. S. C. § 7206 (2).

Appellee was_ originally charged in February 1968 with 25 counts of violating §7206 (2). He was . brought to trial before Chief Judge Ritter on August 27, 1968. After the jury was chosen and sworn, 14 of the counts were dismissed on the Government’s motion. The trial then commenced, the Government calling as its first witness an Internal Revenue Service agent in order to put in evidence the remaining 11 allegedly fraudulent income tax returns the defendant was charged with helping to prepare. At the trial judge’s suggestion, these exhibits were stipulated to and introduced in evidence without objection. The Government’s five remaining witnesses were taxpayers whom the defendant allegedly had aided in preparation of these returns.

After the first of these witnesses was called, but prior to the commencement of direct examination, defense counsel suggested that these witnesses be’warned of their constitutional rights. The trial court agreed, and proceeded, in careful detail, to spell out the witness’ right [473]*473not to say anything that might be used in a subsequent criminal prosecution against him and his right, in the event of such a prosecution, to be represented by an attorney. The first witness expressed a willingness to testify and stated that he had been warned of his. constitutional rights when the Internal Revenue Service first contacted him. The trial judge indicated, however, that he did not believe the witness had been given any warning at the time he was first contacted by the IRS, and refused to permit him to testify until he had consulted an attorney.

The trial judge then asked the prosecuting attorney if his remaining four witnesses were similarly situated. The prosecutor responded that they had been warned of their rights by the' IRS upon initial contact. The judge, expressing the view that any warnings that might have been given were probably inadequate, proceéded to discharge the jury; he then called all the taxpayers, into court, and informed them of their constitutional rights and of the considerable dangers of unwittingly making damáging admissions in these factual circumstances. Finally, he aborted the trial so the witnesses could consult with attorneys.

The case was set for retrial before another jury, but on pretrial motion by the defendant, Judge Ritter dismissed the information on the ground of former jeopardy. The Government filed a direct appeal to this Court, and we. noted probable jurisdiction. 396 U. S. 810 (1969). The case was argued at the 1969 Term and thereafter set for reargument at the present Term. 397 U. S. 1060 (1970).

I

Appellee contends, at the threshold, that our decision in United States v. Sisson, 399 U. S. 267, 302-307 (1970), which followed our noting of probable jurisdiction in this case, forecloses appeal by the Government under [474]*474the motion-in-bar provisions of 18 U. S. C. § 3731 prior to its recent amendment.1 The question was fully briefed and argued on reargument.

The statute provided, in relevant part, for an appeal by the Government direct to the Supreme Court “[f]rom the decision or judgment sustaining a motion in bar, when the defendant has not been put in jeopardy.” Appellee concedes, as indeed he must under the prior rulings of this Court, that his plea of former jeopardy constituted a “motion in bar” within the meaning of the statute.2 The issue is whether appellee had been “put in jeopardy” by virtue of the impaneling of the jury in the first proceeding before the declaration of mistrial. In Sisson, supra, the opinion of the Court3— in discussing the applicability of the motion-in-bar provision to the Government's direct appeal of the trial judge's actions there — concluded, inter alia, that the “put in jeopardy” language applied whenever the jury had [475]*475been impaneled, even if the defendant might constitutionally have been retried under the double jeopardy provisions of the Fifth Amendment. 399 U. S., at 302-307.4

Here the jury in the first proceeding had been impaneled before the mistrial ruling, but appellee’s motion to dismiss on grounds of former jeopardy was made prior to the impaneling of the second jury. The Government contends that the impaneling of the jury must be understood to apply to the jury in the proceeding to which the plea of former jeopardy is offered as a bar, rather than the jury whose impaneling was, in the first instance, essential to sustain the plea on the merits. Ap-pellee contends that the construction put on the statute ' in the Sisson opinion requires the conclusion that the Government may not appeal when a jury in the prior proceeding for the offense in question has been impaneled.

We think the Government has the better of the argument.5 The Court’s opinion in Sisson dealt with the problem presented by the trial judge’s order puf porting to arrest the entry of judgment on the guilty verdict [476]*476returned by the very jury whose impaneling was claimed to constitute “jeopardy” within the meaning of the motion-in-bar provision. The conclusion that jeopardy had attached by the impaneling of the jury in that proceeding rested on the view that the Congress was concerned, in granting the Government appeal rights in certain classes of eases, to avoid subjecting the defendant to a second trial where the first trial had terminated in á manner favorable to the defendant either because of a jury verdict or because of judicial action. . See Sisson, supra, at 293-300. The “compromise origins” of the Criminal Appeals Act, see id., at 307,. reflected this concern, and that concern is an important consideration supporting the canon of strict construction traditionally applied to this statute. See id., at 296-300; Will v. United States, 389 U. S. 90, 96-98 (1967).

In the mistrial situation, the judicial ruling that is chronologically analogous to the Sisson, facts would be the declaration of a mistrial after the first jury has been impaneled. Obviously, the Government could not have appealed Judge Ritter’s. original declaration of mistrial. Since a mistrial ruling explicitly contemplates reprosecution of the defendant, the nonappealability of this judicial action fits with congressional action in excluding pleas in abatement from the class of cases warranting appellate review. The nonappealable status of rulings of this sort is fully explainable in terms of a policy disfavoring appeals from interlocutory rulings. See the discussion in Will v. United States, supra, at 96-98.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

People v. Kimble
2017 IL App (2d) 160087 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 2017)
Audrey McDaniels v. Warden Cambridge Springs SCI
700 F. App'x 119 (Third Circuit, 2017)
State v. Marvel
Superior Court of Delaware, 2017
State v. Hartman
2017 Ohio 1089 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 2017)
State v. Moore
Oregon Supreme Court, 2017
State Of Washington v. Mohamed Ibrahim
Court of Appeals of Washington, 2017
United States v. Warren
593 F.3d 540 (Seventh Circuit, 2010)
State v. Cahoon
2009 UT 9 (Utah Supreme Court, 2009)
Joseph v. State
988 So. 2d 133 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 2008)
In Re Kevin E.
938 A.2d 826 (Court of Appeals of Maryland, 2008)
United States v. Razmilovic
507 F.3d 130 (Second Circuit, 2007)
Ex Parte Head
958 So. 2d 860 (Supreme Court of Alabama, 2006)
Commonwealth v. Cordoba
902 A.2d 1280 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 2006)
State Ex Rel. Kemper v. Vincent
191 S.W.3d 45 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 2006)
State v. Manley
127 P.3d 954 (Idaho Supreme Court, 2005)
Ex Parte Peterson
117 S.W.3d 804 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 2003)
Pryor v. Bock
261 F. Supp. 2d 805 (E.D. Michigan, 2003)
United States v. Mask
101 F. Supp. 2d 673 (W.D. Tennessee, 2000)
People v. Walker
593 N.W.2d 673 (Michigan Court of Appeals, 1999)
Herring v. State
481 S.E.2d 842 (Court of Appeals of Georgia, 1997)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
400 U.S. 470, 91 S. Ct. 547, 27 L. Ed. 2d 543, 1971 U.S. LEXIS 146, 27 A.F.T.R.2d (RIA) 552, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-jorn-scotus-1971.