State of Utah v. Manatau

Justice DURHAM,

opinion of the Court:

INTRODUCTION

¶ 1 In this appeal, we address whether the trial court erred by denying defendant Afu-hia Manatau’s motion to dismiss the charges against him on double jeopardy grounds. We specifically address whether the double jeopardy clause of the Utah Constitution barred Mr. Manatau’s retrial when a trial judge declared a mistrial without establishing legal necessity to do so. We conclude that the burden to create a record for and sufficiently justify the mistrial fell on the trial court and the State, not the defendant. We further conclude that legal…