Word: mistrial
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...HAVE decided to declare a mistrial and grant the motion to dismiss." With these 13 terse words, Judge William Matthew Byrne Jr. ended one of the most extraordinary legal-and in many ways, illegal-proceedings in the history of American justice...
...disclosure followed disclosure, the courtroom air became filled with defense cries of "taint" and motions for mistrial and dismissal, but Byrne hesitated. He was troubled because there were no very direct precedents to guide him. Indeed there could hardly be any, since both the charges and the revelations of the Government's interference and misconduct were unprecedented. Defense Counsel Leonard Boudin tried to cajole Byrne with the coy suggestion: "I'm hopeful that in future when I'm asked to cite a precedent, I'll be able to cite one made by Your Honor in this...
Byrne had three basic alternatives: 1) declare a mistrial, which would expose the defendants to retrial before a new jury; 2) dismiss the indictments in such a way that the government could never again prosecute these defendants for the same alleged offenses (these two might be combined); or 3) send the case to the jury and decide later whether to throw out a possible guilty verdict if further investigation incriminated the Government still more deeply...
...course-meaning a jury verdict and possibly appeals to higher courts. But, he concluded, "the conduct of the Government precludes the fair, dispassionate resolution of these issues by a jury. The totality of the circumstances of this case offends a 'sense of justice.' " Hence he ordered a mistrial and dismissed the indictments...
...defense, understandably, has been reluctant to drop the Watergate issue. Although defense lawyers have repeatedly predicted that the jury would vote for acquittal, they want to play it safe. So if they can win a dismissal of charges, or a mistrial "with prejudice"--which means Ellsberg and Russo would be safe from further prosecution--they will gladly accept...