California Court of Appeal

The partial acquittal rule of Stone v. Superior Court (1982) 31 Cal.3d 503 remains the law in California, where: 1) when a jury indicates that it has unanimously determined that the defendant is not guilty of a greater offense but is deadlocked only on a lesser included offense, the court must afford the jury the opportunity to return a partial verdict of acquittal on the greater offense before the trial court may declare a mistrial; 2) if the court does not do so, the mistrial is deemed to be without legal necessity as to the greater offense, and double jeopardy principles preclude retrying the defendant for that offense; and 3) Blueford v. Arkansas (2012) 566 U.S. ___ [132 S.Ct. 2044] abrogates this rule only to the extent that it held that the partial acquittal rule does not arise under the federal Constitution as it held only that such a partial acquittal rule is not compelled by the Fifth Amendment.

Appellate Information

• Decided 09/12/2013
• Published 09/12/2013

Judges

• McKINSTER

Court

• California Court of Appeal

Counsel