Bell v. State

The issue for decision in this criminal case is whether the Double Jeopardy Clause of the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States 1 would be violated by a retrial of the appellant, Marie Lanier Bell, after her original trial had ended in a mistrial at her request.

I

Mrs. Bell went to trial before a jury in the Circuit Court for Wicomico County, Pollitt, J. and Truitt, J. presiding, on charges that she had solicited Robert M. Anderson to commit battery upon her husband, William Roy Bell, and that about six weeks thereafter she had murdered her husband, conspired with Ralph…