context: While the public certainly has an interest in a competent prosecution of a criminal case, we hold that a mistrial is not manifestly necessary when the trial court believes, as it did in the present case that the prosecutor is "shooting [himself] in the foot with the jury." Clearly, if the Commonwealth makes mistakes which damage its prosecution, it is not entitled to a second bite at the apple due to its poor performance.
citation_a.signal: see
citation_a.identifier: 83 S.Ct. 1035, 1035-1036
citation_a.parenthetical: trial of defendant by a second jury, after the jury first empanelled had been sworn and discharged because a prosecution witness had not been served a summons and because no other arrangements had been made to ensure the witness' presence violated the constitutional guarantee against double jeopardy
citation_a.sentence: See, e.g., Downum v. United States, 83 S.Ct. at 1035-1036, 372 U.S. at 737-738 (trial of defendant by a second jury, after the jury first empanelled had been sworn and discharged because a prosecution witness had not been served a summons and because no other arrangements had been made to ensure the witness’ presence violated the constitutional guarantee against double jeopardy); cf., Gori v. United States, 367 U.S. at 369, 81 S.Ct. at 1526-1527 (double jeopardy protections prohibit a judge from exercising his authority to grant a mistrial at a trial which is going badly for the prosecution to afford the state another more favorable opportunity to convict the accused).
citation_b.signal: cf.
citation_b.identifier: 367 U.S. 369, 369
citation_b.parenthetical: double jeopardy protections prohibit a judge from exercising his authority to grant a mistrial at a trial which is going badly for the prosecution to afford the state another more favorable opportunity to convict the accused
citation_b.sentence: See, e.g., Downum v. United States, 83 S.Ct. at 1035-1036, 372 U.S. at 737-738 (trial of defendant by a second jury, after the jury first empanelled had been sworn and discharged because a prosecution witness had not been served a summons and because no other arrangements had been made to ensure the witness’ presence violated the constitutional guarantee against double jeopardy); cf., Gori v. United States, 367 U.S. at 369, 81 S.Ct. at 1526-1527 (double jeopardy protections prohibit a judge from exercising his authority to grant a mistrial at a trial which is going badly for the prosecution to afford the state another more favorable opportunity to convict the accused).