What is the test for reversal of a jury verdict in a retrial where the first trial ended in a hung jury?

California, United States of America


The following excerpt is from People v. Batchelor, E054475 (Cal. App. 2014):

In People v. Soojian (2010) 190 Cal.App.4th 491, 520, the court cited cases that stand for the proposition that some courts "have found it persuasive that the first trial ended in a hung jury when deciding whether the error that occurred in the retrial was prejudicial. [Citations.]"7 Here, four jurors in the first trial voted to find defendant not guilty of the murder charge. Although the evidence to support the murder conviction was sufficient, as we have discussed above, it was by no means overwhelming. Particularly in light of the prosecutor's argument, underlining and attempting to capitalize on the second jury's incomplete information from the instructions, there is a reasonable probability that the second jury's false impression that a failure to convict defendant of murder would leave him unpunished for his actions was the determining factor why the second trial resulted in a conviction for murder, while the first trial did not. We therefore conclude the error requires reversal.

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