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.
Questions tagged [double-jeopardy]
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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 cameras takes out a gun and murders several people,…
vsz
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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 are a plethora of charges available to the…
Dale M
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If I've been prosecuted for a crime by another country can the US prosecute me for the same crime afterwards?
Lets say that I commit a crime in which the USA and another country both have jurisdiction. As an example I, a US citizen, kill Bob, a citizen of country X, while we're located in Antartica.
Country X catches me first and puts me on trial; they…
dsollen
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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 those circumstances? There is now no doubt that…
Jon
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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 higher court finds that Chauvin's right to an impartial jury…
Burt_Harris
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Can someone get protection under Double Jeopardy for a crime by arranging to be put on trial with fake evidence that is then disproven?
Lets say I just killed Bob (I'm doing a lot of that today). The police suspect me but currently have little evidence that I killed Bob. However, I haven't hidden the murder weapon and body well and can't move them now, so it's just a matter of…
dsollen
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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 getting exonerated from A mean you can't keep…
chausies
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What prevents someone from claiming to be the murderer in order to get the real murderer off?
Say someone is on trial for a murder they committed. During the trial, one of the witnesses, a friend of the defendant, admits that it was actually they who were the killer. It seems that this would be enough to create reasonable doubt and get an…
GendoIkari
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Are charges subject to Double jeopardy if they have been pleaded out of?
Person C was charged with crimes A and B.
Person C pled guilty to crime A, as part of a plea bargain with prosecution, in exchange for dropping charges on crime B.
Executive branch (state or federal, as appropriate) pardoned/commuted the sentence…
user0306
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Can "Double Jeopardy" be a loophole for murder?
Hypothetical facts:
A is tried and acquitted for the murder of B.
B was only presumed dead but was actually alive.
After being acquitted for Bs murder, A actually murders B.
A is later arrested and tried for Bs murder (a second…
Alexanne Senger
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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 Supreme Court, theoretically). But is the opposite also…
chausies
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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 already been tried for that even.
It's been…
grovkin
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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 acquits the president.
Then later on, the House…
NonPartisanObservor
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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 revealed to be not guilty.
Does this mean that Mike…
BakedAlaska624
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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 common law jurisdiction where:
'A' was acquitted of…
autrefois-question
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