United States v. Miller

After a trial resulting in acquittals on several counts and a hung jury on the remaining counts, the district court dismissed all counts except those in which á majority of the jurors voted to convict. The district court .did not specify the ground for its dismissal, other than to say that retrial would be unfair as to those counts in which the government did not convince at least seven jurors to vote for a conviction. The government appeals, arguing that the district court’s order was without a legal basis. We agree, and reverse the order dismissing the counts.

I

Six Los Angeles County law enforcement officers were tried together before a jury on a 34 count indictment charging them with various civil rights violations. The government’s case relied significantly on the testimony of Robert Sobel, a former Los Angeles County Sheriffs Deputy. Among other things, Sobel admitted to committing perjury in other proceedings “possibly” hundreds of times.

After the government rested its ease in chief, the officers moved under Fed, R.Crim.P. 29 for judgments of acquittal. The court granted the motions for acquittal on some counts as to some of the defendants, and denied all others. At…