Cite as: 538 U. S. 634 (2003)
Opinion of the Court
judge's comments were not sufficiently final to terminate jeopardy. This was not an objectively unreasonable application of clearly established law as defined by this Court. Indeed, numerous other courts have refused to find double jeopardy violations under similar circumstances.2 Even if we agreed with the Court of Appeals that the Double Jeopardy Clause should be read to prevent continued prosecution of a defendant under these circumstances, it was at least reasonable for the state court to conclude otherwise.
Because respondent did not meet the statutory requirements for habeas relief, the judgment of the Court of Appeals is reversed.
It is so ordered.
2 In United States v. LoRusso, 695 F. 2d 45, 54 (1982), for example, the Second Circuit held that double jeopardy did not bar continued prosecution on a charge when the judge withdrew an oral grant of a motion to dismiss a count "[w]here no judgment has been entered . . . and there has been no dismissal of the jury." In United States v. Byrne, 203 F. 3d 671 (2000), the Ninth Circuit found no double jeopardy violation where a trial judge orally granted a motion for acquittal, then agreed to consider an additional transcript. Id., at 674 ("[T]here was no announcement of the court's decision to the jury, and the trial did not resume until" after the court had denied the defendant's motion). See also United States v. Baggett, 251 F. 3d 1087, 1095 (CA6 2001) ("Byrne and LoRusso stand for the proposition that an oral grant of a Rule 29 motion outside of the jury's presence does not terminate jeopardy, inasmuch as a court is free to change its mind prior to the entry of judgment"); State v. Iovino, 524 A. 2d 556, 559 (R. I. 1987) (distinguishing United States v. Martin Linen Supply Co., 430 U. S. 564 (1977), on the grounds that in the case before it, "the jury remained impaneled to adjudicate lesser included charges, and that defendant was not faced with any threat of reprosecution beyond the jury already assembled to hear his case"); State v. Sperry, 149 Ore. App. 690, 696, 945 P. 2d 546, 550 (1997) ("[U]nder the circumstances presented here, the trial court could reconsider [its oral grant of a motion for a judgment of acquittal] and withdraw its ruling without violating" the Double Jeopardy Clause).
643
Page: Index Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10Last modified: October 4, 2007