Rocky Houston re-trial would be double jeopardy, says attorney

A Roane County man accused of killing a deputy and his ride-along friend contends he should not be re-tried in that case because it would be double jeopardy.

Rocky Houston faced 24 different charges in the deaths of two men, Bill Jones and Mike Brown.

The jury is supposed to start with the most serious charge, premeditated murder, and resolve it before moving down the list to lesser charges.

But that didn't happen in the Houston case.

Instead, after two days of deliberations last December, the jury came back, and the jury foreman said, "Your honor, we as a jury panel have not been able to reach a unanimous verdict."

Special Judge Buddy Scott instructed Rocky Houston's jury to deliberate further.

They did, then came back with a mixed verdict form: 8 charges marked "acquit," and the rest left blank. Not all of the charges marked for acquittal were the most serious charge for that count, leaving questions.

Then the judge dismissed the jury and Rocky Houston went back to jail.

"What we want in this case is a verdict from the jury that we spent the time and effort with to have this first trial. And we say that Judge Scott discharged this jury without declaring a mistrial," Defense Attorney Randy Rogers argued in court Tuesday.

In the hearing before the Court of Criminal Appeals in Knoxville, the state said even without formal declaration of a mistrial, it obviously was a mistrial because the jury was hung. That interpretation allows a re-trial.

But the state concedes Houston should not be re-tried on the 8 charges on which the jury found him "not guilty."

And the state also admitted errors were made.

"You don't move from an offense to a lesser included offense until the jury has reached a unanimous not guilty verdict," State Attorney General's Senior Counsel John Bledsoe said. "So the process used here should never have been used in a criminal case."

There's no time frame on when the Court of Criminal Appeals will make a decision.

A jury acquitted Rocky Houston's brother Leon Houston in his re-trial earlier this month. A previous trial ended with a hung jury and mistrial.

Rocky Houston was not in court Tuesday but remains in custody in the Scott County Jail.