People v. Hicks

We are required in each of these consolidated appeals to determine whether the constitutional bar against double jeopardy precludes retrial after a judge has recused herself in the middle of a bench trial and the successor judge has declared a mistrial. Our answer turns on the scope of the manifest-necessity exception to the double jeopardy bar and its application to the particular facts presented. We conclude that the Double Jeopardy Clause allows retrial of defendant Hicks, but precludes retrial of defendant Bellew. Accordingly, we would reverse the Court of Appeals decision in People v…