A district court’s failure to give parties an opportunity to object before declaring a mistrial is not standing alone, dispositive of whether the mistrial was a legal necessity.
Practice tip:
If defense counsel moves to dismiss on double jeopardy grounds following a mistrial, it is insufficient to merely point out that the trial court failed to follow procedural steps like soliciting objections; rather defense counsel must be able to articulate specific reasonable alternatives the court could have employed.
