Mark Howerton v. Texas

This Court has long held that a mistrial declared in the face of manifest necessity does not generally prohibit a retrial under the Fifth Amendment. While it has recognized that a defense-requested mistrial caused by prosecutorial goading can raise an exception to this general rule, it has limited the availability of this remedy to those cases in which the record shows that it was the prosecutor’s specific intent to force the mistrial. Oregon v. Kennedy, 456 U.S. 667 (1982). This rule fails to reach significant acts of prosecutorial misconduct that impair the ability of the defendant to fairly pursue an acquittal. Should the Court’s holding in Oregon v. Kennedy be extended to prohibit a wider range of prosecutorial intent?