Mistrials cost time, money

SANDUSKY — In sports, rematches are a chance for one athlete or team to prove superiority over another.But in criminal jury trials, rematches — which come following mistrials — often bog down the court system and can be a benefit to defense lawyers, a judicial expert said.In criminal court, mistrials happen when a 12-person jury can't reach a unanimous verdict, or if something happens during trial deemed by a judge to be unfair to the defendant. When that happens, prosecutors can decide to re-try the case and start a new trial.There were two mistrials Erie County's common pleas court last month.That's significant for the court, because, between 2014 and 2018, it averaged a total of seven trials per year, split between three criminal court judges, according to data previously provided by the Erie County prosecutor's office. The low number of trials is due mostly to an overwhelming number of plea deals.Recent mistrialsAnthony Wright, the defendant in Anthony Wright v. Ohio, center, listens to Erie County public defender Jeff Whitacre, inside the Erie County Commons Pleas Court on Wednesday, June 28, 2019.On July 8, the attempted murder trial for Sandusky resident Anthony Wright, 61, ended without a verdict about a week after it started. After more than three days of deliberating, jurors returned to tell the judge they couldn't reach a unanimous verdict on attempted murder and felonious assault charges.The jury voted four "guilty" and eight "not guilty" on attempted murder. On felonious assault, 10 jurors voted "guilty," two voted "not guilty." The judge declared a hung jury and a mistrial.Later in the month, on July 25, the trial for Richard Mick, 58, a former pastor facing life in prison on child sex charges ended before the jury had a chance to deliberate.Richard Mick, left, speaks with his attorney Meredith O'Brien, right, during his trial Tuesday, July 23, in Erie County common pleas court. Several days into the trial, defense attorneys said the prosecution didn't provide them with a Sandusky police report, which they said they could have been used to poke holes in a witnesses' testimony. The defense lawyers claimed the situation was unfair to Mick, and the judge agreed and declared a mistrial.Both Wright's and Mick's cases will be re-tried: Wright's new trial is set for Sept. 24, but Mick's trial date hasn't yet been scheduled.Expert explainsMistrials cost not only money but valuable time, especially in smaller counties with fewer judges. That's according to Thomas Hodson, who's previously served as a judge and defense attorney and currently is a journalist and professor at Ohio University."Anything you do twice or more has an impact on slowing down the system," Hodson said.Theoretically, a defendant's case could be prosecuted an infinite number of times if juries in repeat trials couldn't reach verdicts. But Hodson said, even if back-to-back mistrials occur, the prosecution typically either offers the defendant a deal or decides to drop the case."I had a homicide case where we had hung juries three times," he said. "After we had a hung jury for the third time, the prosecution just said, 'No, we're not going to do this.'"Mistrials can bring up additional bills, which can be footed by the taxpayer. Other than salaries for judges and prosecutors, taxpayers are also paying for jurors — who make about $30 per day in Erie County — a public defender, if the defendant needs one, along with payments to compensate witnesses for their time, according to Erie County common pleas court Judge Tygh Tone, who presided over the Mick trial.Hodson said mistrials are often good for defense attorneys — since it means the state couldn't get a jury to unanimously convict their client — giving them leverage with prosecutors to cut a deal for their client.But despite the two recent mistrials locally, they remain fairly rare — "the exception instead of the rule," Hodson said."Most juries want to arrive a decision either for guilty or not guilty," he said. "They do not feel that they have done their job if there is a hung jury."Tone said that in 15 years as a sitting judge, including the Mick case, he's only had two or three mistrials in both civil and criminal cases."I don't think anybody's happy when there's a mistrial," he said.Visit our Erie County Common Pleas court hub for more storiesReach reporter Brandon Addeo at brandonaddeo@sanduskyregister.com, follow him on Twitter @BrandonAddeo and follow the Register at Facebook.com/SanduskyRegisterWhen a trial ends in mistrial, it can be re-tried, but that costs courts additional money and time, a judicial expert said. Thomas Hodson