Free Republic

The federal government prosecuted Merle Denezpi twice for the same crime. It also punished him twice: the first time with 140 days in a federal detention center, the second time with a prison sentence more than 70 times as long.Although that may seem like an obvious violation of the Fifth Amendment's ban on double jeopardy, the Supreme Court last week ruled that it wasn't. As the six justices in the majority saw it, that puzzling conclusion was the logical result of the Court's counterintuitive precedents on this subject. The Fifth Amendment says no person shall "be subject for the same...

Special Prosecutor Thomas Plymale dismissed all charges against Philip Barnett, who spent 10 years in prison for a crime DNA testing proved he did not commit. Charges were also dropped against his co-defendants Nathan Barnett, Philip’s brother, and Justin Black. A fourth defendant, Brian Dement, accepted a sentence modification of time served. All four men were convicted of the 2002 murder of a young woman in Cabell County, W.Va. “Today is a great day for the Barnett family; Philip and Nathan’s names are finally cleared. The DNA results from the crime scene evidence, which excluded Philip and Nathan and matched...

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Three UCLA basketball players accused of shoplifting in China apologized Wednesday before coach Steve Alford announced they were being suspended indefinitely. LiAngelo Ball, Jalen Hill and Cody Riley were described as "good young men" by Alford at a campus news conference. The coach said the trio wouldn't be allowed to suit up, practice or travel with the team while the university continues to sort out the circumstances of last week's incident in Hangzhou, China. Ball, Hill and Riley took turns acknowledging their actions and apologizing while also thanking President Donald Trump for intervening on their behalf...