United States v. Dinitz

Nathan Dinitz (defendant) was on trial on drug charges when his newly admitted attorney was repeatedly warned for improper opening statements; the judge offered to stay the case pending review of the attorney's conduct, let Dinitz use his prior attorney, or declare a mistrial, and Dinitz chose to move for a mistrial, which the judge granted without objection from the prosecution. Before retrial, Dinitz argued double jeopardy barred a second trial; the trial court disagreed, but the court of appeals found the judge had effectively forced the mistrial and held retrial barred. The Supreme Court granted certiorari.