State v. Gorwell

JOHN F. McAULIFFE, Judge,

Specially Assigned.

During deliberation of the jury in this criminal case, the trial judge dismissed one of the jurors at the insistence of the defendant and then declared a mistrial when the State refused to proceed with eleven jurors. Thereafter, the defendant filed a motion to dismiss, contending that the trial should have continued with eleven jurors notwithstanding the objection of the State; that as a result there was no manifest necessity for the granting of a mistrial; and that double jeopardy principles protected the defendant from retrial. The trial judge…