State v. Courtney: Retrying the Defendant after Charges Have Been Dismissed

James Courtney was charged with first degree murder in 2009 for shooting and killing James Deberry outside Deberry’s Raleigh apartment. Courtney was tried on those charges in December 2010. The jury deadlocked, and the judge declared a mistrial. Four months later, the State dismissed the murder charges, stating on the dismissal form that it had elected not to retry the case. Four years later, the State changed its mind. After gathering new evidence, it sought and received a 2015 indictment once again charging Courtney with first degree murder for killing Deberry. Courtney moved to dismiss the charges, arguing that the State’s dismissal of the initial murder charges following the mistrial precluded the State from recharging him. Was he right? ­­­­­­­­­ The trial court didn’t think so. It denied Courtney’s motion to dismiss. He was retried, convicted of second degree murder, and sentenced to more than 18 years of imprisonment. Courtney appealed. In an opinion published yesterday, the court of appeals held that the trial court erred in denying Courtney’s motion to dismiss and vacated Courtney’s conviction. State v. Courtney, ___ N.C. App. ___ (2018). The court of appeals held that the State’s voluntary dismissal of the charges pursuant to G.S. 15A-931 after jeopardy had attached had “the same constitutional finality and conclusiveness as an acquittal for double jeopardy purposes.” Slip op. at 17. In addition, the State’s election to voluntarily dismiss the charges following the mistrial rather than announcing the State’s intent to retry it was binding on the State and [...]