State v. Tate

Opinion

KATZ, J.

The dispositive issue in this interlocutory appeal is whether the trial court properly found, over the defendant’s objection, the requisite manifest necessity to declare a mistrial despite its failure to inquire of the jurors, as requested by the defendant, whether they had reached a unanimous verdict on the charge of murder, or any of the lesser included offenses charged, before declaring that they were deadlocked. We conclude that the trial court’s finding of manifest necessity was improper.

The record discloses the following pertinent facts. The defendant, James Tate, was…