Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit October 28, 1981, 257, Docket 81-1270 (United States v. Richard Mastrangelo)

MESKILL, Circuit Judge

(dissenting):

The majority reduces the Double Jeopardy Clause of the Fifth Amendment to an “abstract formality” that must yield when a trial judge “reasonably concludes that there is a distinct possibility” that a defendant was responsible for the disappearance of government evidence. Because I believe the Double Jeopardy Clause is not so fragile, I dissent.