double jeopardy
The DOUBLE JEOPARDY clause in the Fifth Amendment to the U. S. Constitution prohibits the government from prosecuting individuals more than one time for a single offense and from imposing more than one punishment for a single offense. [1]
”The constitutional prohibition against ‘double jeopardy’ was designed to protect an individual from being subjected to the hazards of trial and possible conviction more than once for an alleged offense. [2]
DOUBLE JEOPARDY - Being tried twice for the same offense; prohibited by the 5th Amendmentto the U.S. Constitution. [3]
The term “jeopardy” refers to the “danger” of punishment which is ascribed to any individual brought to trial before a court of competent jurisdiction. [4]
‘[T]he Double Jeopardy Clause protects against three distinct abuses: a second prosecution for the same offense after acquittal; a second prosecution for the same offense after conviction; and multiple punishments for the same offense.’ [3]
Under this doctrine, the Supreme Court has ruled in a series of cases that the Due Process and EQUALPROTECTION Clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment guarantee to the citizens of every state the right to exercise certain fundamental liberties. [1]
If this issue is raised, evidence will be placed before the court, which will normally rule as a preliminary matter whether the plea is substantiated, and if it so finds, the projected trial will be prevented from proceeding. [5]
If the DEFENDANT or juvenile enters a PLEA agreement with the prosecution, jeopardy does not attach until the plea is accepted by the court. [1]
In law, the prosecution of a person for an offense for which he or she already has been prosecuted. [6]
For example, a jury that has been instructed as to the crimes of first- and second-degree murder will implicitly acquit the defendant of first-degree murder by returning a guilty verdict only as to murder in the second degree. [1]
Procedural matters prior to trial do not constitute jeopardy, and that’s why it’s said that jeopardy attaches, or may be asserted by the defendant, once a jury has been sworn in, or the first witness takes the stand, in any original prosecution resulting in any acquittal or conviction. [4]
U.S., 284 U.S. 299 (1932), the Supreme Court held that punishment for two statutory offenses arising out of the same criminal act or transaction does not violate the Double Jeopardy Clause if ‘each provision requires proof of an additional fact which the other does not.’ [3]
50 Although the Court had long accepted in dictum the principle that prosecution by two governments of the same defendant for the same conduct would not constitute double jeopardy, 51 it was not until United States v. [2]
This means that there cannot be a second prosecution for the same criminal act (both in fact and in law) upon which a first prosecution was based. [4]
The act of putting a person through a second trial for an offense for which he or she has already been prosecuted or convicted. [6]
Sources:
[1] Double Jeopardy: Encyclopedia of Everyday Law
[2] FindLaw: U.S. Constitution: Fifth Amendment: Annotations pg. 2 of 16
[3] Legal Definition of Double Jeopardy
[4] Double Jeopardy
[5] Double jeopardy - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
[6] double jeopardy: Definition from Answers.com