DUI case dismissed for double jeopardy after sua sponte mistrial

Dec 29th, 2009 by admin

In the Know says:

December 29, 2009 at 2:15 pm

I agree, it does not pass the smell test. Two observations: (1) Judge Timothy Bloomquist actually declared the mistrial and noted that the case “smack[ed] of trickery.” He recused himself, and the late Judge Swenson subsequently presided over the retrial. (2) The defendant’s attorney had his license suspended shortly after the defendant’s court trial (the suspension involved an unrelated matter). The attorney then filed the appellant brief after his suspension, but signed it using the defendant’s name so that the attorney would not get in trouble for practicing law after his suspension. In the process, he misspelled the defendant’s name in the signature and signature block. The defendant’s name is “Roeschlein”, not “Roeschelein”. The court of appeals renamed the case with the misspelling, probably under the assumption that a pro se litigant knows the proper spelling of his own name.

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