Questions tagged [double-jeopardy]
Double jeopardy is the idea that the government may not put a person on trial more than once for a given crime. Part of the Unites States Constitution. Use for questions about when and how it applies.
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The movie 'Fracture'(2007) and the role of the prosecutor
Questions about the movie Fracture (2007) have been presented before, mainly because of the double jeopardy gimmick it uses. Like here :Is the interpretation of Double Jeopardy realistic in the movie ...
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Can double jeopardy (re-doing a trial) be allowed due to other trials / new information?
Alice goes after Randy for raping her in a trial. Alice has a bad lawyer though, and completely loses, and Randy gets off. After any appeals, etc., Randy still gets off, so Alice is out of luck.
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Why doesn't double jeopardy apply in this case where a woman was convicted of attempted murder, then manslaughter when the victim died years later?
There's an article in today's news about a woman who pleaded "no contest" to attempted murder in 1985 after allegedly shaking a child and causing him serious injury. In 2019 the child, now ...
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Is the plot of Suits in S2E3 plausible in real life?
I've been binge-watching Suits recently, and in the episode S2E3 "Unfinished Business", there's this plot twist:
Ava Hessington is arrested for conspiracy to commit murder of six anti-...
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Is the defendant liable for attempted murder when the attempt resulted in the death of an unintended second victim?
The doctrine of transferred intent applies when the defendant intends to harm a particular victim but as a result an unintended second victim receives that harm. I understand that attempted crimes can’...
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Does any amount of jury tampering negate an acquittal?
Apparently during the 1987 racketeering trial of John Gotti, an anonymous jury was empaneled. However, one of the members, George Pape, had a connection to one of the defendants and accepted a bribe ...
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Is it legal (but maybe "unprecedented") for the prosecution to "judge shop" to re-arrest someone on the same charges?
It's been said that the recent re-arrest of an FBI informant on the same charges is "unprecedented", in particular because it was done by going to a different judge than the original ...
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Could a person who has served time for 2nd degree murder later be charged with 1st degree murder if their co-defendant gets a new trial?
If someone was charged with 1st degree murder but got it got dropped to 2nd degree with a plea of 10 yrs, and their co-defendant got a new trial, could they then be charged with 1st degree murder even ...
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Is this the first time an appeal about double jeopardy for being tried first in the US senate, then in the judiciary has been considered?
An exchange between two CNN reporters in a December 14, 2023 video Judge pauses Trump election interference case begins
BLITZER: ...the judge ordering a pause until major appeals play out, ...
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Can you be retried if you appeal a partial acquittal?
I know that in the US Double Jeopardy protection means that if you are acquitted the prosecution cannot attempt to appeal or retry you (except for very narrow exceptions). However, a defendant is ...
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Double Jeopardy in the UK for crime committed abroad
This question is about Double Jeopardy in the United Kingdom, focusing on the England and Wales jurisdiction.
Pretend the defendant commits a sexual crime in Spain, where one of the following happens:
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Why does Double Jeopardy apply if you confess?
If you were tried for murder and acquitted - then you go out and publicly admit that they were wrong, you did actually murder that person. Where is the justice in not being able to be tried again in ...
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Can a judge vacate a conviction and then reinstate it?
In the TV series Waco:Aftermath, a jury convicts defendants of some crimes but acquits them of some others. Their lawyer argues that the convictions don’t make sense and the judge agrees to vacate ...
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Does double jeopardy apply if you commit the same crime twice?
Suppose someone were to rob a convenience store, be charged with robbery, then be found not guilty in court. After they are found innocent, that same person robs the same convenience store again. ...
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If you try to charge someone for something and it doesn't stick, can a less severe charge be made as a follow-up?
Say Mark is charged with A (let's say Murder), but the charges don't stick because e.g. he didn't do it on purpose. Can Mark then charged as a follow-up for B (e.g. involuntary manslaughter)? Or does ...
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Can previous crimes that one was found "not guilty" of be used against them?
Carl the criminal robs a store as his first crime. Somehow, he is found not guilty of this (the 12 jurors do not unanimously agree on his guilt). After walking free, he immediately goes back to the ...
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What does the term "falls under two or more seperate definitions of an offence" mean in IPC section 71?
Indian Penal Code section 71 states
Where anything is an offence falling within two or more separate definitions of any law in force for the time being by which offences are defined or punished, or
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Does double jeopardy apply if the prosecution did a "terrible job"?
The point of this question is about how double-jeopardy could potentially be abused.
Say that Bob is suspected of murdering Mary. If he is tried for this crime and found not guilty, then he can't be ...
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If a defendant is found guilty, they can usually appeal to a higher court. Is the plaintiff appealing an acquittal also allowed?
Say Adam the accuser is taking Dave the Defendant to court. If Dave loses in his local district, I've heard that he can appeal the decision and be re-tried in a higher court (all the way to the ...
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Extreme case of double jeopardy
I have a very unique and interesting theoretical debate I’m trying to find the answer to. Suppose that I am accused and found guilty of murder of a person (ex. Bob). I serve my time for the murder and ...
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Judicial federalism outside the US
Does any other federal country use a US-like system of having both a local and federal court systems, applying different rules of procedure and enabling the equivalent of double jeopardy, i.e where ...
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Under the US Constitution, can the state decide after a conviction to to convict you of a higher offense later on?
Suppose I am tried and convicted on a charge of manslaughter. But I actually murdered the person. Can the government come back and charge me with murder?
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Can an improper prosecution defeat the double jeopardy rule?
If a case is brought under let's say murder and it is deemed the incorrect law to have charged the defendant with. Let's say due to an incompetent DA if the defendant is found not guilty because of ...
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Double indictment for the same act
Say a murder is committed. The DA indicts someone, who is tried, and found not guilty by a jury of his peers.
Is it possible that after some more police investigations, the DA can then indict a second ...
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Can double jeopardy be circumvented by something other than the separate sovereigns doctrine?
It has been answered here that using the separate sovereigns doctrine, the same person can be convicted (or at least tried) twice for the same offense or crime, in the United States.
Is there another ...
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When does Jeopardy attach in a US Criminal trial?
In light of this comment and several responses to in the Q&A Is "My Cousin Vinny" dismissal actually possible? when exactly does jeopardy "attach" in a US criminal trial? That ...
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Double Jeopardy in Texas v. Young?
According to this Texas Tribune article, in Texas v. Young, Clinton Young was found guilty of murder and sentenced to death. Fifteen years later, a Texas court of appeals has thrown out his ...
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If a person is tried for fraud for practicing law without a degree, and the verdict is not guilty, would double jeopardy prevent future fraud charges?
[SPOILERS for Suits]
In season five of the TV series Suits, Mike Ross, who has practised law for a few years without a degree and passing the Bar himself, is tried for fraud. The jury's verdict is ...
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Will a Rittenhouse conviction on lesser charges prevent any future retrial on higher charges?
Suppose that the jury unanimously agrees on guilt in "second-degree recklessly endangering safety"
but is hung 50/50 on pushing to a higher "intentional homicide" charge. Can the ...
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Does Double Jeopardy prohibit prosecution, for the same event, in both Federal and State court?
The common understanding of the 5th Amendment's prohibition on being tried twice for the same offense is that no trial can be held which would put a person in a risk of loss of liberty if they have ...
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If a pardon is specifically referencing a crime a person has been convicted of, can an individual sue him for a different crime?
Pardons, except for amnesties, are typically given after a person has
been convicted of a crime, and they specifically reference that crime.
In this respect, President Trump’s pardons of Scooter Libby,...
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Does double jeopardy apply to the Texas abortion bill?
Suppose Alice performs an abortion, and Bob files a suit based on Texas SB8. Can Charlie also file a suit against her? Could a million people file suits asking for $10k each?
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Does double jeopardy prevent someone being tried twice for the same offence in both England and Scotland?
Let us say someone (D) commits an offence under an Act of Parliament applicable to both England & Wales and Scotland, and the circumstances mean that both England & Wales and Scotland have ...
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Has double jeopardy ever been used as an escape to any crime?
There are other questions on Law.SE asking about specific hypotheticals related to the double jeopardy rule, but are there any concrete, actual recorded cases of anyone, in all of history, in any ...
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Can a prosecutor hold back charges so they can try again?
Assume I was alleged to have been involved in a bank robbery gone wrong - guns were fired, people were killed and injured, some robbers were arrested at the scene, some escaped etc.
Obviously, there ...
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Why isn't double jeopardy overruled by new conclusive evidence?
I came across a murder case where the person was acquitted and evidence came out after the trial that she was guilty but she wasn't retried because of double jeopardy. The justice system is supposed ...
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Could Derek Chauvin be retried?
Given Maxine Water's "abhorrent" conduct in Minneapolis (the judge's word, not mine) and the subsequent guilty verdict against Derek Chauvin, appeal(s) seem a virtual certainty. If a ...
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How do murder charges work? [duplicate]
In the recent trial of former officer Derek Chauvin, today he was found guilty on all charges. Those charges include:
Murder in the Second Degree (Murder 2)
Murder in the Third Degree (Murder 3)
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Double jeopardy and similar crimes [duplicate]
Suppose person A murders person B and is charged and tried for premeditated murder. If the jury finds them innocent of that charge, can the prosecutor then try them for, say, voluntary manslaughter?
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Is the following a form of "jury nullification" and if so can it be overturned legally?
Regarding the O.J. Simpson trial, an (African American) commentator said something like, "O.J. was guilty of murder, but it also appeared that he was being framed (by e.g. Mark Fuhrman), and ...
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What is the opposite of "lesser included offence"?
If someone is charged with murder, but acquitted at trial, they can't be later charged with manslaughter, because it's a lesser included offense.
The opposite isn't true, though.
If someone is accused ...
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Could double jeopardy protect a murderer who bribed the judge and jury to be declared not guilty?
Assume the following hypothetical case: a well-known multi-billionaire is holding an event with lots of invitees, (so there is no doubt about his identity), then in front of many witnesses and live ...
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Could I create doubt of a crime by having multuple people suggest, but not actually claim, that they were the murderer?
Let's say hypothetically I'm a member of some gang and just killed a member of a rival gang. I've been accused of murder and taken to trail. My fellow gang members want to help me get off, but not ...
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Does the principle of double jeopardy apply to different charges in the same case? [duplicate]
For example, consider a serial killer who sexually assaults their victims before killing them.
For the sake of argument, let's say that the prosecutors are not able to successfully charge the serial ...
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Does the U.S. Fifth Amendment prevent one from being tried again for the same crime?
I have a question about the Fifth Amendment.
Imagine I committed a crime but I was acquitted at trial. After some time, some new evidence came up showing that I did do it. Does the Fifth Amendment say ...
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An enigma regarding double jeopardy laws [duplicate]
I am currently debating this with my friend.
So in a hypothetical situation, Person A was falsely accused of a horrible crime, like say, rape or murder. However, Person A was found guilty anyway ...
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Does double jeopardy protect a suspect from the consequences of admitting guilt after being declared not guilty?
I heard an anecdote of a suspect having just been declared "not guilty" due to insufficient evidence, then he said "thanks, I won't do it again". It was used as an example of how ...
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Why don't Habitual Offender Laws violate rule against double jeopardy?
Some countries have rules against double jeopardy, yet the same countries also may have rules stipulating more severe punishment to habitual offenders (or practice less severe punishment if the ...
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Can an impeachment charge be dismissed on the grounds of double jeopardy?
Two impeachment articles were drafted by the House and then sent to the Senate
Abuse of Power
Obstruction of Congress.
Now say the senate looks at the original articles and underlying evidence and ...
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Double Jeopardy with grooming
I was reading an article about a paedophile in Scotland that abused teenagers in the UK but also the USA through the internet. Here is a link to the news story Independent article
Given that some of ...
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