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Roesser v. State

A defendant's acquittal for murder did not bar his retrial following a mistrial on the lesser included offense of voluntary manslaughter.

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Following the denial of his plea in bar asserting double jeopardy,1 Christopher Roesser appeals,2 contending that the trial court erred in ruling that he could be re-tried for voluntary manslaughter after the jury deadlocked on this charge. Roesser argues that because the jury acquitted him of the indicted offenses of malice murder, felony murder, and aggravated assault, the state is barred from further prosecution on the lesser included offense of voluntary manslaughter. We conclude that, in this case, a retrial on the voluntary manslaughter charge following a mistrial due to a hung jury does not violate the Double Jeopardy Clause of either the federal or state constitutions.3 Therefore, we affirm the ruling of the trial court.

“When an appellate court reviews a trial court’s decision on a plea in bar, we conduct a de novo review of the legal issues. Further, we must accept the trial court’s findings on disputed facts and witness credibility unless those findings are clearly erroneous.”4 The record shows that Roesser fatally shot the victim, Keith Price, in a parking lot on the evening of December 20, 2006. Roesser was indicted on charges of malice murder, felony murder, aggravated assault, and three counts of possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony. Following a jury trial, he was convicted on all the indicted counts. The trial court subsequently granted Roesser’s amended motion for new trial. In the second trial, Roesser’s sole defense was that he acted in self-defense5 in firing his weapon and fatally injuring Price. At the trial’s conclusion, the jury found him not guilty of malice murder, felony murder, aggravated assault, and one count of possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony based on the aggravated assault charge; however, it was unable to reach a verdict on the other charges, including voluntary manslaughter, which had been charged at Roesser’s request as a lesser included offense of the murder charges.

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