P. v. Super. Ct.
Annotate this Case
In the 1992 murder case of Laurie Houts, John Kevin Woodward was charged but not convicted. The case went to trial twice, resulting in deadlocked juries and subsequent mistrials both times. After the second mistrial in 1996, the trial court dismissed the case, citing "insufficiency of the evidence."
In 2022, new DNA evidence led to the refiling of the murder charge against Woodward. However, Woodward moved to dismiss the complaint on double jeopardy grounds, asserting that the 1996 dismissal operated as an acquittal. The trial court agreed and dismissed the refiled complaint.
The district attorney disputed this interpretation and petitioned the appellate court to vacate the dismissal order and deny Woodward's motion to dismiss. The district attorney contended that the 1996 dismissal did not bar refiling because the earlier dismissal was not due to legal insufficiency of the evidence, but was instead a decision made in the furtherance of justice.
The appellate court agreed with the district attorney, finding that the trial court's 1996 dismissal did not clearly indicate an intent to dismiss for legally insufficient evidence and thus preclude retrial. As such, the appellate court ruled that double jeopardy principles do not bar the refiling of the murder charge against Woodward, and directed the lower court to vacate its dismissal order.
Some case metadata and case summaries were written with the help of AI, which can produce inaccuracies. You should read the full case before relying on it for legal research purposes.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.