Can you have the same jury when you have a mistrial, due to a dead judge?
Kristen H asked:
This is for research on my legal thriller. The scenario is this: my MFC was aiming for a 24-hour continuance. Besides bomb threats and murder attempts, she lost a witness and then a judge due to a car bombing in his car. The judge did grant a continuance; but due to his death, it’s now a mistrial. I’m wondering if you can have the same jury selected or have to start all over again? Any legal experts in here like lawyers to help me out?
This is for research on my legal thriller. The scenario is this: my MFC was aiming for a 24-hour continuance. Besides bomb threats and murder attempts, she lost a witness and then a judge due to a car bombing in his car. The judge did grant a continuance; but due to his death, it’s now a mistrial. I’m wondering if you can have the same jury selected or have to start all over again? Any legal experts in here like lawyers to help me out?
March 31st, 2009 at 12:17 am
Doubtful. If they need to re-start the trial, they would start fresh, with a new jury.
Good luck with the project! I’m an attorney but your job sounds more interesting!
April 1st, 2009 at 2:18 pm
New jury.
April 3rd, 2009 at 10:30 pm
a mis-trial starts the case all over from scratch.
April 4th, 2009 at 10:38 pm
No. A mistrial is just that…you begin a new trial whether the reason is the demise of the judge or not. Jury selection for the next trial will bring in a whole new set of candidates – that’s how the jury system works.
April 7th, 2009 at 10:45 am
no once there is a mistrial, the jury is dismissed.
It starts all over and a new jury is selected.
The witness that was lost, if they had already testified, and was cross examined then that testomony can be read into records for the new jury.
April 9th, 2009 at 2:58 pm
Nope… new jury…