Cleeta John Rogers v. United States of America, Cecil Bateman v. United States

Appellants were tried together on charges of mail and wire fraud. After three days of trial, the jury retired to deliberate. On the fourth day of deliberation, the jury returned a verdict of guilty as to appellant Bateman, but stated it was unable to reach a verdict as to appellant Rogers. The judge gave the jury an Allen charge, asked them to return to further deliberation, and stated to the parties that if the jury could not reach a verdict within one day, he would have to end the case. The jury sent a note to the judge about an hour later, stating that they were deadlocked. The judge questioned the jury foreperson to verify the deadlock and then declared a mistrial as to appellant Rogers.

Before his retrial, appellant Rogers moved to dismiss the charges against him on double jeopardy grounds. The motion to dismiss was denied. Rogers appealed, arguing that he could not be retried because the trial judge did not ascertain if there was a manifest necessity for a mistrial.

Jury deadlock is a classic example of manifest necessity for a mistrial. The Supreme Court has stated that in such circumstances the decision of the trial judge will be given great deference because he is in…