Blueford v. Arkansas  Blueford v. Arkansas, 566 U.S. 599 (2012), was a decision of the Supreme Court of the United States that clarified the limits of the Double Jeopardy Clause. The Supreme Court held that the Double Jeopardy Clause does not bar retrial of counts that a jury had previously unanimously voted to acquit on, when a mistrial is declared after the jury deadlocked on a lesser included offense. Alex Blueford was tried on capital murder and three lesser included offenses: first-degree murder, manslaughter, and negligent homicide. After deliberating, the jury reported that it had unanimously voted to acquit on the charges of capital murder and first-degree murder, but had deadlocked on manslaughter and had not voted on negligent homicide. The trial court declared a mistrial and denied a motion to dismiss the charges of capital murder and first-degree murder on double jeopardy grounds. The Supreme Court of Arkansas affirmed the denial of the motion on interlocutory appeal. The Supreme Court affirmed the decision of the Supreme Court of Arkansas. Writing for the majority, Chief Justice Roberts held that because the jury did not formally acquit on any charges, the report of the foreperson that the jury had unanimously voted against capital murder and first-degree murder "lacked the finality" required to prevent a retrial. Further, Chief Justice Roberts found that the trial court's declaration of a mistrial was proper under the circumstances. Dissenting, Justice Sotomayor wrote that the state should not be able to retry Blueford on capital and first-degree murder because the jury had announced its unanimous vote against capital and first-degree murder in open court. The Double Jeopardy Clause of the United States Constitution generally prohibits criminally prosecuting a defendant twice for the same offense, mandating that:  The Supreme Court has delineated a number of exceptions to this general prohibition. In particular, retrial after a mistrial is governed by the "manifest necessity" rule first outlined by the Supreme Court's decision in "United States v. Perez", which held that a retrial is not prohibited by the Double Jeopardy Clause after a mistrial where there is a "manifest necessity" in declaring a mistrialparticularly, following a hung jury. Alex Blueford was tried in August 2009 on charges of capital murder and the lesser included offenses of first-degree murder, manslaughter, and negligent homicide arising from the death of his girlfriend's one-year-old son in November 2007.