"Kurt Ullman" wrote in message news:1u-

Double jeopardy is when the value of the questions are doubled. Happens
every weekday night at 7:15 or so. (arf, arf)

The only real question is how many times they're going to retry Dunn for
murder one. I've never seen the prosecution go more than three times on any
case, but I have seen them go for a third retrial a number of times, often
securing a conviction on the third go-round. Each retrial, especially if
the jurors detail why they were hung, gives the prosecution lots of pointers
about how they can perfect their case to secure a conviction. Although OJ's
eventual loss at trial was civil and not criminal, it's clear by the time
the civil trial occurred that the plaintiffs had learned a lot about how to
present the case against him from what the criminal jurors had said.

Many times what happens is by the second or third retrial, the defendant
enters a plea. Regrettably the system is somewhat biased against defendants
because of the cost of good legal representation. A third (or even second)
retrial often equals bankruptcy for many defendants (sometimes the initial
trial does that - Zimmerman owes millions on his case, IIRC). By the time a
retrial is underway, defendants many times end up with less than stellar
counsel.

http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/mistrial

A courtroom trial that has been terminated prior to its normal conclusion. A
mistrial has no legal effect and is considered an invalid or nugatory trial.
It differs from a "new trial," which recognizes that a trial was completed
but was set aside so that the issues could be tried again.

Nugatory, for the record, doesn't mean caramel covered or related to Ted
Nugent:

from Latin nugatorius "worthless, trifling, futile," from nugator "jester,
trifler, braggart"

We clearly have a number of nugators in AHR. But I digress . . .

Usually, if a jury is deadlocked by just one or two jurors, a retrial is
almost certain to follow, and perhaps more than one. It's only in cases
where there are a considerable number of jurors voting to acquit that
prosecutors shy away from retrials. Murder one cases are probably an
exception to that rule, at least for a second a trial. The state of
Florida will almost certainly retry Dunn because he may be successful in
overturning the first convictions on attempted murder and they clearly don't
want him walking away without any consequences.

I have to wonder if Dunn and the Popcorn Killer were aware of how draconian
the Florida laws are concerning the use of a gun in a felony. I wasn't.
One good thing that came out of these killings is that people are more aware
of the possible consequences of discharging a weapon and may exercise
greater discretion when assaulted by loud music or popcorn in the future.

These cases also drive home why my instructors for my CCW license of over 30
years ago (a different world, really) kept emphasizing "Your CCW permit is
for SELF DEFENSE. You have NO police powers and using the gun for anything
short of preventing IMMEDIATE loss of life will get you into serious
trouble."

It's becoming very clear that at least some people with CCWs start to think
they are empowered to correct society's ills, like loud music, texting
during movies, etc. I had the same experience. I had seen a father knock
his kid to the ground in McDonald's and was ready to make a citizen's
arrest. But fortunately my training said "Call the cops - it's a police
matter." But my guts really wanted to knock that guy to the ground and then
to stand on him. (-:

It's a peculiar form of "mission creep" and it happens to a lot of people.
Do you think Dunn would have approached a car full of loud teenagers
unarmed? Combine the "mission creep" effect with liquid courage and trouble
is often the outcome. I wouldn't be surprised if a psych exam of the
Popcorn Killer reveals a substantial mental defect, probably some sort of
senile dementia.

--
Bobby G.