CPL § 280.20

Motion for mistrial; status of indictment upon new trial

§ 280.20 Motion for mistrial; status of indictment upon new trial.

Upon a new trial resulting from an order declaring a mistrial, the indictment is deemed to contain all the counts which it contained at the time the previous trial was commenced, regardless of whether any count was thereafter dismissed by the court prior to the mistrial order.

Official sourcehttps://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/laws/CPL/280.20

In plain English

On the new trial that results from a mistrial order, the indictment is deemed to contain ALL the counts it had when the previous trial commenced — even if the court dismissed some count(s) before the mistrial order. ★ In plain terms: a count knocked out during the first trial comes back for the do-over.

★ Exam hits:

Mistrial is mandatory ("must") once a § 280.10 ground is met, and may be declared at any time during trial.
Three grounds: (1) defendant's motion — error/defect/conduct prejudicial to the defendant, denying a fair trial; (2) People's motion — gross misconduct (by defendant, his agent, or a juror) causing substantial and irreparable prejudice to the People; (3) either party or the court's own motion — physically impossible to proceed lawfully.
Joint trial: on a defense motion, mistrial is granted only as to the movant(s); on a People's motion, a defendant not responsible and not substantially prejudicing is kept in the trial.
§ 280.20: on retrial the indictment holds every count it started with, even counts dismissed before the mistrial.

Verbatim statute: CPL - Article 280

Marked in the text: penalties, time limits, sums of money. Editorial emphasis added by this edition; it does not appear in the statute as enacted.

In print

This provision appears in Volume 3 — The JG-22 Criminal Procedure Law and in Volume 1 — The JG-22 in Plain English.