The State of Mississippi tried Beckwith three times in approximately 30 years; the first two trials ended in hung jury mistrials. While the government is allowed to retry a criminal defendant after a hung jury, some questions remain about the propriety of Beckwith's conviction under the Fifth Amendment double jeopardy clause. The author suggests that the courts adopt a more flexible standard for determining if a defendant should be retired after a hung jury mistrial. The proposed rule would place greater emphasis on the defendant's important double jeopardy interests including finality and action limitation, in not allowing the prosecution to gain a tactical advantage by manipulating criminal proceedings in fine-tuning its trial strategy. 7 notes and 33 references