Chatfield v. Ricketts, 81-1096
| Decision Date | 25 March 1982 |
| Docket Number | No. 81-1096,81-1096 |
| Citation | 673 F.2d 330 |
| Parties | George E. CHATFIELD, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. James G. RICKETTS and J.D. MacFarlane, Defendants-Appellees. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Tenth Circuit |
Michael G. Katz, Federal Public Defender, and Vicki Mandell-King, Asst. Federal Public Defender, Denver, Colo., for plaintiff-appellant.
J.D. MacFarlane, Atty. Gen., Richard F. Hennessey, Deputy Atty. Gen., Mary J. Mullarkey, Sol. Gen., and Susan P. Mele, Asst. Atty. Gen., the State of Colorado, Denver, Colo., for defendants-appellees.
Before BARRETT, McKAY and LOGAN, Circuit Judges.
After examining the briefs and the appellate record, this three-judge panel has determined unanimously that oral argument would not be of material assistance in the determination of this appeal. See Fed.R.App.P. 34(a); Tenth Cir. R. 10(e). The cause is therefore ordered submitted without oral argument.
George E. Chatfield appeals from a district court order dismissing his petition for writ of habeas corpus. In August 1977 a jury found Chatfield guilty of three charges, but was unable to reach a verdict on the separate counts of first-degree kidnapping and violent crime. Thereafter, Chatfield was retried on the kidnapping and violent crime counts. The jury found him guilty of first-degree kidnapping, but not guilty of violent crime. On this habeas corpus appeal, the issues are whether the Double Jeopardy Clause prohibited retrying Chatfield and whether the evidence was sufficient to sustain the first-degree kidnapping conviction.
The essential facts are not disputed. On September 7, 1976, Chatfield and another individual, James Pardue, unsuccessfully attempted to rob the First Westland National Bank in Lakewood, Colorado. During their escape, they came upon a woman loading her car with groceries and at gunpoint forced her to enter her car with them and give them her keys. Pardue then drove the car several blocks before releasing the woman when it appeared the police were not pursuing them.
Chatfield was later arrested and tried on five separate counts in a Colorado state court. The jury found Chatfield guilty of conspiracy to commit aggravated robbery, attempted aggravated robbery, and felony menacing. The jury could not reach a verdict on the first-degree kidnapping and violent crime charges, and the trial court declared a mistrial as to those counts. The trial court subsequently granted the state's motion to dismiss the remaining two counts, but when the state later moved to have the charges reinstated the court granted the motion. After a second trial a jury found Chatfield guilty of first-degree kidnapping, but not guilty of violent crime.
Chatfield argues that the trial court violated the Double Jeopardy Clause by permitting the state to retry him for the first-degree kidnapping and violent crime counts after previously dismissing those counts at the state's request. In United States v. Sanford, 429 U.S. 14, 97 S.Ct. 20, 50 L.Ed.2d 17 (1976), the Supreme Court addressed a similar question. After a mistrial because of a hung jury, the trial court granted the defendant's motion to dismiss the charges. The government appealed from the trial court's dismissal. The Supreme Court held that the Double Jeopardy Clause did not bar the government from appealing the trial court's dismissal and, if successful, from retrying Sanford.
In the instant case the state, not the defendant, moved for dismissal after...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Beckwith v. State, 91-IA-1207
...Adkins, 424 U.S. 641, 96 S.Ct. 1086, 47 L.Ed.2d 301 (1976), citing Smith v. State, 135 Fla. 835, 186 So. 203 (1939); Chatfield v. Ricketts, 673 F.2d 330, 332 (10th Cir.1982), cert. denied 459 U.S. 843, 103 S.Ct. 96, 74 L.Ed.2d 88; Arnold v. McCarthy, 566 F.2d 1377, 1388 (9th Cir.1978). Cf. ......
-
State v. Courtney
...338 N.C. 244, 261, 449 S.E.2d 391, 401 (1994).1 Federal circuit courts have reached the same conclusion. See, e.g. , Chatfield v. Ricketts , 673 F.2d 330, 332 (10th Cir.) ("The Sanford court obviously concluded that since the government has a right to retry the defendant following a mistria......
-
Rhyne v. State, s. A93A0505
...was dismissed after mistrial does not bar the State from reasserting the same charge and retrying defendant. In Chatfield v. Ricketts, 673 F.2d 330 (10th Cir.1982), cert. denied, 459 U.S. 843, 103 S.Ct. 96, 74 L.Ed.2d 88 (1982), the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals, in reliance upon several o......
-
U.S. v. Cooper
...his right to a jury trial, his reprosecution on the same charge was not barred), cert. denied, 479 U.S. 832 (1986); Chatfield v. Ricketts, 673 F.2d 330 (10th Cir.) (trial court did not violate double jeopardy by permitting retrial of defendant after initial charge was dismissed at state's r......