Beck v. State

Bell, Justice.

The issue before us is whether the trial court made sufficient findings and conclusions to support its grant of a plea of double jeopardy. The defendant, Michael Odell Beck, was brought to trial on charges of child molestation. During the trial the court granted a motion for mistrial because the prosecutor violated an order that had excluded evidence of similar transactions. Beck later made a plea of double jeopardy that was predicated on the prosecutorial conduct that led to the mistrial.

Only where the governmental conduct in question is intended to “goad” the defendant into…