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To: patent
Double jeopardy only applies if there is an actual decision in the first trial. As the Jury deadlocked, there was no decision, and she can legally be retried.

The first jury found her not guilty of first degree but deadlocked on the lesser includeds. According to this law school lecture, she can't be retried:

The term "double jeopardy" refers to the "danger" of a second punishment whenever an individual is brought to trial again for the same crime (or a greater or lesser included crime). 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. The accused must be released and the case dismissed. The challenge is determining what constitutes the "same" crime for double jeopardy purposes. Some of the simpler examples include:

119 posted on 10/28/2005 7:30:58 PM PDT by cynwoody
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To: cynwoody

>>>>an acquittal or conviction for murder will bar any prosecution for manslaughter if based on the same facts (lesser included example)

That would be true if she had only been tried for murder the first time, and had been aquitted of all charges. What you guys fail to understand is that the first trial is technically not a full aquittal, due to the other charges that had a hung jury.

patent


120 posted on 10/28/2005 8:14:13 PM PDT by patent (A baby is God's opinion that life should go on. Carl Sandburg)
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