Commonwealth v. Lowder

At the trial of this criminal case, the trial judge entered findings of not guilty shortly after the prosecutor delivered his opening statement to the jury. We are asked to decide whether the judge acted within his authority. We conclude that judges have the power to enter findings of not *93guilty at the early stages of trial, that they should exercise this power only rarely, and that the judge abused his discretion by exercising it as he did in this case. We also conclude that double jeopardy principles bar the Commonwealth from trying the defendant anew for the offenses of which the judge…