State v. Courtney

HUDSON, Justice This case comes to us by way of the State's appeal from a unanimous decision of the Court of Appeals holding that defendant's right to be free from double jeopardy was violated when the State voluntarily dismissed defendant's charge after his first trial ended in a hung jury mistrial. Defendant was retried nearly six years later, after new evidence emerged. The State argues that jeopardy is deemed never to have attached because of the mistrial, so that defendant was not in jeopardy at the time that his second trial began. In the alternative, the State argues that, even if…