Oliver v. Justices of the New York Supreme Court

In this article 78 proceeding, appellant Charles Oliver (Oliver) requests that the respondents be prohibited from prosecuting him under a pending indictment charging him with murder. A prior trial on this charge ended with the trial court’s declaration of a mistrial based on a hung jury. Oliver argues first that, in effect, there was a jury verdict of acquittal; and second, that the court’s declaration of a mistrial was improper; that he was therefore placed in jeopardy and cannot be tried again. Though the circumstances surrounding the jury’s announcement of its deadlock were unusual, we are…