Lead Opinion
This is an interlocutory appeal by a defendant claiming the State should be barred from reprosecution following the reversal of his conviction on appeal. We conclude retrial is not barred, and affirm the district court’s rejection of the defendant’s motion to dismiss. We remand for further proceedings.
Ronald Swartz was convicted of first-degree robbery on July 5, 1985. He was sentenced to serve a prison term not to exceed twenty-five years. The conviction and sentence was later affirmed on appeal.
Swartz served his sentence and was discharged from parole on August 6, 1992. Pri- or to his discharge, he filed a post-conviction relief petition with the district court claiming, in part, that his conviction was tainted by prosecutorial misconduct. The district court denied Swartz relief, and he appealed.
On August 6,1993, we reversed the district court’s decision to deny Swartz post-conviction relief and remanded the case for retrial. We reversed the conviction due to the prosecutor’s deliberate use of perjured testimony which likely influenced the outcome of the trial. The procedendo followed on October 15, 1993. An order entered by the district court on December 13,1993, set the new trial for January 4, 1994. Swartz moved for a continuance of the trial, and for a dismissal of the charge. The district court granted the continuance but denied the motion to dismiss. Swartz sought and was granted interlocutory review from the denial of his motion to dismiss.
Swartz raised several claims before the district court in his motion to dismiss, which are now raised on appeal. He contends: 1) the Double Jeopardy Clause bars retrial, 2) the prior discharge from his sentence bars retrial, 3) the Due Process Clause and the furtherance of justice bar retrial, 4) the delay by the State in setting the date of the new trial violated the Equal Protection Clause and his right to a speedy trial, and 5) the district court lacked jurisdiction to entertain reprosecution.
I. Scope of Review.
Where a defendant alleges deprivation of a constitutional right, such as here, we must make our own evaluation of the totality of the circumstances under which the rulings on constitutional rights were made. State v. Rademacher,
II. Double Jeopardy Issue.
The Fifth Amendment of the United States Constitution in pertinent part provides: “Nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb.” This seemingly simple phrase has launched a complex area of jurisprudence. Double jeopardy issues have badly fractured the United States Supreme Court in recent years. See, e.g., Lockhart v. Nelson,
Still, a few clear principles can be gleaned from the case law. As a general rule, the Double Jeopardy Clause “does not prevent the government from retrying a defendant who succeeds in getting his first conviction [reversed] because of some error in the proceedings leading to conviction.” Lockhart,
As well, generally, the Double Jeopardy Clause does not bar retrial of a defendant after a mistrial declared at the defendant’s request. See Arizona v. Washington,
These two general rules, and their accompanying exceptions, form the foundation to the resolution of the issue we confront. We must decide if the exceptions are applicable to the facts of this case, or if they should be extended to cover the circumstances of this case.
The insufficiency of evidence exception is clearly inapplicable to this case. In Burks, the Court drew a distinction between trial error and insufficiency of evidence to support the conviction, listing proseeutional misconduct as a trial error which does not implicate the Double Jeopardy Clause. Burks,
Furthermore, in Lockhart the Court held the test for sufficiency of the evidence requires the appellate court to consider any inadmissible evidence erroneously accepted by the trial court, as well as the admissible evidence. Lockhart,
The prosecutorial misconduct exception also fails to fit squarely within the confines of this case. No motion for a mistrial based on prosecutorial misconduct was made. Thus, we must decide whether the Double Jeopardy Clause bars retrial of a defendant whose conviction is reversed on appeal for prosecutorial misconduct when the defendant did not move for a mistrial on the ground of prosecutorial misconduct.
This is an issue of first impression in Iowa, and one that has been met with mixed results in the federal circuits and other state courts. Until recently, Supreme Court precedent seemed to foreclose any extension of the Double Jeopardy Clause to cases which were reversed on appeal due to prosecutor misconduct but which did not involve a mistrial motion. In Burks, the court indicated that government misconduct was not a ground for reversal which implicated the Double Jeopardy Clause. Burks,
In Lockhart, however, the Court, sparked debate over the issue of whether further extension of the double jeopardy bar was possible when it introduced the double jeopardy claim presented in the case by observing that the record revealed no prosecutorial misconduct. Lockhart,
The Seventh Circuit held a “defendant who did not move for a mistrial on the basis of intentional prosecutorial misconduct cannot invoke the double jeopardy clause to bar the state from retrying him after his conviction is reversed on that ground.” Beringer v. Sheahan,
While its reasoning is persuasive, the court did not consider the situation in which a defendant is unaware of the prosecutorial misconduct until after the verdict. Thus, it does not explicitly answer the question we face in this case.
The Second Circuit considered this aspect of the issue and reached a different result.
In resolving this difficult issue, we must be mindful of underlying protections embodied in the Double Jeopardy Clause. One of its principal aims is to protect the right of defendants to have their trials completed by the first jury empaneled to hear the case. Oregon,
With this in mind, we believe that extending the Oregon exception to situations involving prosecutorial misconduct which failed to provoke a mistrial would be incompatible with the aim of the Double Jeopardy Clause to have the trial concluded by the first jury, or at least to retain primary control over that decision with the defendant.
The right of defendants to have their cases submitted to a particular tribunal is valued because of the significant interest defendants have in the decision whether or not to take the ease from the jury if something arises which would warrant a mistrial. Dinitz,
We also recognize the practical problems in any rule which would extend the double jeopardy bar to prosecutorial misconduct when no mistrial motion is made.
First, the rule developed by the Second Circuit in Wallach requires a post-hoc consideration of the prosecutor’s intent at the time he or she engages in misconduct. As Justice Stevens pointed out in his concurrence in Oregon, “It is almost inconceivable that a defendant could prove that the prose
Second, a standard which involves evaluating the prosecutor’s intent is a factual analysis and inevitably leads the court to consider the sufficiency of the evidence at the time the prosecutor engaged in the misconduct. See Wallach,
Finally, the Second Circuit model seems to mingle the two strands of double jeopardy exceptions. This may also be contrary to the Supreme Court’s intent. See Beringer,
We acknowledge Wallach makes an appealing argument that a distinction should not exist between cases involving misconduct by the prosecutor which is visible enough to precipitate a mistrial motion, and cases involving prosecutorial misconduct which may not become known until after the trial. Wallach,
We conclude reprosecution is not barred by the Double Jeopardy Clause. We also observe that Swartz’s claim would even fail under the Wallach exception. Swartz offered no evidence concerning the intent of the prosecutor at the time of trial, and the record in this case is insufficient to support any finding that the prosecutor committed the misconduct to avoid a likely acquittal.
III. Multiple Punishment
Swartz next argues reprosecution will subject him to multiple punishment since he has served his original sentence and was discharged from parole during the appeal process. We acknowledge Swartz could not be punished twice, and would be entitled to full credit for time served following his first conviction if convicted following reprosecution. See North Carolina v. Pearce,
IV. Furtherance of Justice
Swartz next argues reprosecution should be barred in furtherance of justice. He asserts that a new trial is an ineffective remedy to the prosecutional misconduct in his first trial.
We acknowledge prosecuting attorneys have a duty to see that the accused is given a fair trial, and must observe the requirements of due process of law throughout the trial process. State v. Tolson,
Trial courts have discretion to determine the appropriate sanction in response to prosecutorial misconduct. Dismissal of the charges is recognized to be a drastic step, and is a disfavored remedy. United States v. Rogers,
We conclude the trial court acted within its discretion in overruling the motion
We also conclude dismissal is not warranted under Iowa Rule of Criminal Procedure 27(1). See State v. Brumage,
V. Remaining Claims
Swartz also claims he was denied equal protection because the prosecutor did not initiate action to set the trial date following the issuance of procedendo as promptly as they had with another defendant in an unrelated case in the same county who was granted a new trial on appeal. Swartz also claims the fifty-nine day delay between the issuance of the procedendo and the filing of the order setting the case for retrial violated his right to a speedy trial. Finally, Swartz argues the court no longer had jurisdiction because he had been discharged from his sentence. We find Swartz’s claims without merit.
When a case is reversed on appeal and remanded for a new trial, the ninety day speedy trial mandate begins on the date the procedendo is issued. State v. Zaehringer,
We believe this rule also applies to new trials granted as the result of an appeal in a postconviction proceeding. Post-conviction remedies exist to give trial courts an opportunity to consider and correct challenges to their original actions. See generally, Allen v. State,
We conclude Swartz was not denied his right to a speedy trial because the new trial granted by the appellate proceedings was set within the ninety day period following the issuance of the procedendo. Moreover, no statutory timetable exists requiring a specific amount of advance notice of the date of the new trial following a remand. We acknowledge due process would not permit a defendant to be tried without reasonable notice of the trial, but under the circumstances the trial notice provided in this case was reasonable.
The significant notice was the procedendo. It informed the parties the case was returned to the district court for the purpose of a new trial. Thus, Swartz was given notice a trial had to be held within ninety days. The advance notice of the specific trial date later provided to Swartz, in this light, was not unreasonable. Thus, Swartz was not denied equal protection, nor was he denied his right to a speedy trial. Furthermore, the discharge of the sentence did not impact the court’s jurisdiction to proceed to a new trial. The court’s jurisdiction arises from the statutory authority of the court to grant postcon-viction relief.
AFFIRMED AND REMANDED FOR FURTHER PROCEEDING.
HAYDEN and SACKETT, JJ., dissent.
Dissenting Opinion
(dissenting).
I respectfully dissent from the majority on the double jeopardy issue.
The case before us is unique because defendant’s conviction was reversed, by appellate review, based upon prosecutorial misconduct. Swartz v. State,
Until recently, U.S. Supreme Court precedent seemed to foreclose the possibility of such an extension. In Burks, the Court stated governmental misconduct was not among the grounds for reversal that implicates the Double Jeopardy Clause. Burks,
Other federal circuits have struggled with the question of whether, and how far, to extend the exception in Oregon. Compare Beringer v. Sheahan,
Iowa precedent is no more helpful than federal law. The Iowa Supreme Court has not yet decided a case requiring it to answer the question before us. Our supreme court recently discussed double jeopardy principles. Rademacher, 433 N.W.2d at 757-59. In that case, at trial the prosecution violated the district court’s pretrial ruling on admissibility of evidence. Id. at 755. Defendant moved for a mistrial, which was granted. Id. The state attempted to reprosecute defendant, but defendant claimed retrial was barred by the Double Jeopardy Clause. Id. The supreme court held that the Oregon federal standard was the correct one to apply, and under that standard, defendant could not be retried. Id. at 757-59. However, Rademacher addressed only the mistrial issue and did not need to examine the reversal on appeal issue.
Our supreme court has made it clear double jeopardy principles are applicable under the Iowa Constitution as well. State v. Bell,
This standard should be applied to the case at bar. Our previous reversal of defen
The State makes much of the fact that in our review of the first trial, we did not dismiss the ease. Rather, we reversed and remanded for a new trial. Id. However, at that point in time, the double jeopardy issue was not directly before us. It certainly is now.
The prosecutor’s use of perjured testimony against defendant was intentionally undertaken to deny defendant a fair trial. Consequently, I find retrial of defendant is barred by the Double Jeopardy Clause of the Iowa Constitution. I would reverse the district court and dismiss the case against defendant.
SACKETT, J., joins this dissent.
