McCorkle v. State

ALPERT, Judge.

In the fourth year of President James Monroe’s second term (1824), Supreme Court Justice Story declared the polestar of mistrial/double jeopardy cases: the “manifest necessity” rule.

The issue in this case is whether the trial court correctly declared a mistrial based on the unexpected absence of the key prosecution witness. In contending that the mistrial was declared improperly, appellant Gregory Allen McCorkle has asked us to address the following six questions:

1. Did the trial judge fail to exercise sound discretion in declaring the existence of manifest necessity for a…