The Pennsylvania Superior Court ruled that double jeopardy did not bar the defendant’s re-trial. During closing arguments, the prosecutor commented on the defendant’s silence, thereby causing a mistrial. The defendant filed a motion to dismiss, citing the Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s recent holding in Commonwealth v. Johnson. The trial court denied the motion, and the Superior Court affirmed. The Court held that, though the prosecutor engaged in misconduct when he commented on the defendant’s silence, “the misconduct was neither intentional nor close to qualifying as the type of overreaching necessary” to bar another trial.
