Finding Mistrial Decision Premature, 2nd Circuit Bars Retrial of White-Collar Defendants

A federal judge's hair-trigger declaration of a mistrial without polling the jury means the government is now barred by double jeopardy from retrying two white-collar defendants.

In what lawyers for the two men say is an unprecedented decision, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in United States v. DeGennaro, 06-4195-cr, said Monday that Eastern District of New York Judge Leonard Wexler abused the considerable discretion given judges for declaring a deadlocked jury.

The ruling is a victory for Michael DeGennaro and Frank Borghese, who were among a group of senior executives at Symbol Technologies, a Long Island bar code scanning company, accused of fraudulent accounting practices and other misconduct designed to boost Symbol's stock price over a five-year period.

Details here from the New York Law Journal via Law.com.