United States v. Rathburn

472 F. Supp. 17, 1979 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 12628
CourtDistrict Court, D. Vermont
DecidedMay 3, 1979
DocketCrim. A. No. 6535
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 472 F. Supp. 17 (United States v. Rathburn) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Vermont primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Rathburn, 472 F. Supp. 17, 1979 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 12628 (D. Vt. 1979).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OF DECISION

HOLDEN, Chief Judge.

Petitioner has applied for a Writ of Habeas Corpus, pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2255, claiming that his 1967 conviction in the United States District Court for the District of Vermont was obtained in violation of the constitutional prohibition against double jeopardy.

By interlocutory order the petitioner’s request for assignment of counsel under the Criminal Justice Act was granted. The Government responded and tendered the record of the trial. The Vermont Defender General for Corrections was appointed to represent the petitioner. The case was submitted on the record and the petitioner’s affidavit. Oral arguments were presented March 9, 1979.

I. FACTS

On November 7, 1967, Dennis William Rathburn, along with Jack Rex Pigman, Lester Murray VanBlericom, Richard Allen Kloberdance and Mary Butts, was indicted on three counts. The first count charged a violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2314 (interstate transportation of forged security), the second charged a violation of 18 U.S.C. § 371 (conspiracy to transport forged security in interstate commerce), and the third charged a violation of 26 U.S.C. § 5851 (unlawful possession of an unregistered sawed-off shotgun). Trial began on December 4. On December 5, however, defendants VanBlericom and Kloberdance changed their pleas as to counts two and three from “not guilty” to “guilty.” After the court accepted the change of pleas, a discussion ensued as to whether the jury could fairly try the remaining co-defendants.1 With the acquiescence of all parties, [19]*19the court declared a mistrial and excused the jury. The next day the court empaneled a new jury and began petitioner’s second trial. On December 15, 1967, the jury returned a verdict of guilty against each of the defendants on all three counts. The Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit affirmed petitioner’s conviction. United States v. Rathburn et al., 414 F.2d 767 (1969).

Petitioner, now serving consecutive sentences of ten and five years, claims in his petition for a Writ of Habeas Corpus that he was twice tried for the same crime when the second jury was empaneled to hear his case.

II. LAW

The Fifth Amendment requires that once a jury has been impaneled and jeopardy has attached, the defendant has a right to have his trial completed by that particular tribunal. Wade v. Hunter, 336 U.S. 684, 689, 69 S.Ct. 834, 93 L.Ed. 974 (1949), United States v. Jorn, 400 U.S. 470, 484, 91 S.Ct. 547, 27 L.Ed.2d 543 (1971). This furthers the historical purpose of the double jeopardy clause: to prevent the Government from repeatedly attempting to convict a defendant once he has been acquitted. It also protects the accused against “continued exposure to anxiety, embarrassment, expense and restrictions on his liberty that might be caused by aborting one trial to commence another.” Dunkerley v. Hogan, 579 F.2d 141, 145 (2d Cir. 1978).

Countervailing the defendant’s right to be tried before a particular tribunal is the public’s interest in insuring that the prosecutor has one full and fair opportunity to present his case against the accused. In striking a balance between these two interests, the Supreme Court held in its landmark decision of United States v. Perez, 22 U.S. (9 Wheat.) 579, 6 L.Ed. 165 (1824), that double jeopardy considerations will not bar a retrial when “manifest necessity” requires that the first jury be discharged.

The “manifest necessity” standard has traditionally been applied in reviewing a trial judge’s entry of mistrial over the defendant’s opposition. See, eg., Illinois v. Somerville, 410 U.S. 458, 93 S.Ct. 1066, 35 L.Ed.2d 425 (1973); Wade v. Hunter, 336 U.S. 684, 69 S.Ct. 834, 93 L.Ed. 974 (1949); Simmons v. United States, 142 U.S. 148, 12 S.Ct. 171, 35 L.Ed. 968 (1891). Where the mistrial is declared upon defendant’s own motion, however, a different analysis is required. Such a defendant is assumed to have waived any double jeopardy claims. United States v. Scott, 437 U.S. 82, 93-94, 98 S.Ct. 2187, 57 L.Ed.2d 65 (1978); United States v. Jorn, 400 U.S. 470, 485, 91 S.Ct. 547, 27 L.Ed.2d 543 (1971). See United States v. Grasso, 552 F.2d 46, 49 (2d Cir. 1977) (dictum), vacated and remanded, 438 U.S. 901, 98 S.Ct. 3117, 57 L.Ed.2d 1144 (1978). To allow a defendant to move for a mistrial only later to object to a retrial on double jeopardy grounds would frustrate the public interest in a full and fair prosecution.

There are situations, however, where a defendant who consented to a mistrial may still be entitled to double jeopardy protection. Retrial is precluded where “bad faith conduct by judge or prosecutor,” United States v. Jorn, 400 U.S. at 485, 91 S.Ct. at 557, threatens the “[hjarassment of an [20]*20accused by successive prosecutions or declaration of mistrial so as to afford the prosecution a more favorable opportunity to convict” the defendant. Downum v. United States, 372 U.S. 734, 736, 83 S.Ct. 1033, 1034, 10 L.Ed.2d 100 (1963).

The Supreme Court applied this test in United States v. Dinitz, 424 U.S. 600, 96 S.Ct. 1075, 47 L.Ed.2d 267 (1970). Defendant, who moved for mistrial when counsel of his choice was expelled from the trial after repeated improper conduct, moved for a mistrial rather than proceed with counsel unacceptable to him. .Upon his retrial he was convicted. He sought to have the conviction overturned, arguing that his motion for mistrial was the result of a “Hobson’s choice” and could not operate as a voluntary relinquishment of double jeopardy protection. The Court held that absent a showing that actions necessitating mistrial were “motivated by bad faith or undertaken to harass or prejudice” the defendant, double jeopardy considerations did not preclude a retrial. United States v. Dinitz at 611, 96 S.Ct. at 1081-1082.

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Bluebook (online)
472 F. Supp. 17, 1979 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 12628, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-rathburn-vtd-1979.