From Casetext: Smarter Legal Research

Matter of Wiley v. Couzens

Court of Appeals of the State of New York
Nov 20, 1975
343 N.E.2d 757 (N.Y. 1975)

Opinion

Argued October 23, 1975

Decided November 20, 1975

Appeal from the Appellate Division of the Second Judicial Department.

Arthur H. Grae and Keogh Keogh for appellant.

Carl A. Vergari, District Attorney (Stephen C. Unsino of counsel), for respondents.


MEMORANDUM.

On the facts of this case we cannot say that the Trial Judge abused his discretion by accepting the partial verdict and discharging the jury when he did. (CPL 310.60, subd 1, par [a]; see, also, United States v Perez, 9 Wheat [22 US] 579, 580; Illinois v Somerville, 410 U.S. 458.) The jury reported the deadlock on the attempted murder count after deliberating for over five hours and, in response to the court's inquiry, the foreman stated that the situation would remain unchanged if deliberations were continued for another day. When the court indicated its intention to accept a partial verdict and discharge the jury, neither side objected. The decision then was left to the court's discretion, and the court did not abuse it. Thus the double jeopardy clause poses no bar to retrial on the unresolved charge (United States v Perez, supra).

Chief Judge BREITEL and Judges JASEN, GABRIELLI, JONES, WACHTLER, FUCHSBERG and COOKE concur.

Judgment affirmed, without costs, in a memorandum.


Summaries of

Matter of Wiley v. Couzens

Court of Appeals of the State of New York
Nov 20, 1975
343 N.E.2d 757 (N.Y. 1975)
Case details for

Matter of Wiley v. Couzens

Case Details

Full title:In the Matter of THOMAS WILEY, Appellant, v. JOHN C. COUZENS, as a Judge…

Court:Court of Appeals of the State of New York

Date published: Nov 20, 1975

Citations

343 N.E.2d 757 (N.Y. 1975)
343 N.E.2d 757
381 N.Y.S.2d 39

Citing Cases

Watkins v. Bennett

In his thirteenth ground Watkins contends that, because the trial court accepted a partial verdict in the…

People v. Watkins

In any event, his contentions are without merit. "`[T]he circumstances provide reasonable assurances of the…