Commonwealth v. States

OPINION

Justice FITZGERALD.

In this case, we consider principles of double jeopardy in the context of a simultaneous jury/bench trial for multiple criminal offenses. In a relatively unusual procedure, the jury was charged with rendering a verdict on some of the charges, while the trial judge had the task of deciding another. We must determine whether a mistrial on some charges due to a *456hung jury, coupled with an acquittal in the bench trial, implicates double jeopardy protections such that a retrial cannot occur. We conclude that under the circumstances of this case, the prohibition against…