Yahoo Answers is shutting down on May 4th, 2021 (Eastern Time) and beginning April 20th, 2021 (Eastern Time) the Yahoo Answers website will be in read-only mode. There will be no changes to other Yahoo properties or services, or your Yahoo account. You can find more information about the Yahoo Answers shutdown and how to download your data on this help page.

Tried for the same crime in different jurisdictions.?

If you were tried for a felony in federal court or military court and acquitted, could you then be tried by state court for that same crime without violating the double jeapardy rule? If so, how common is that?

7 Answers

Relevance
  • Bob B
    Lv 7
    9 years ago
    Favorite Answer

    This is legally possible- right now the USA uses the "separate sovereigns" doctrine when interpreting double jeopardy, which basically says that you can be tried for the same offence by different jurisdictions. This might be at a state/federal level, or it could be two different states charging you for the same thing.

    It's fairly uncommon for this sort of thing to happen, as most matters are dealt with by only a single authority (i.e. it's fairly rare that federal investigators will get involved in a matter investigated by local or state police), but it does happen from time to time. One example was the LAPD officers who assaulted Rodney King in 1991 (they were acquitted by a state court of murder, but convicted in a federal one for civil rights violations).

    It's also worth mentioning that it's generally rare for the exact same charge to be applied in multiple jurisdictions, as an offence at state law is generally not an offence in federal law, and so forth (as they concern different things). However, usually there is something that can be found at either level.

  • 5 years ago

    1

    Source(s): Criminal Records Search Database : http://criminalrecords.raiwi.com/?UucQ
  • 9 years ago

    Double jeopardy does not allow for more than one trial that goes to a decision. However, there are many cases where someone was acquitted in state court and then tried in Federal court for the same crime, but under a different charge. If someone is found not guilty of murder they may be tried for civil rights violations.

  • 9 years ago

    No, once the jurisdictional question is settled, there can be only one trial unless the state court tries first. State and federal law are not the same, so the federal court could try the individual under federal law, but that's not the same crime--the law defines the crime.

  • How do you think about the answers? You can sign in to vote the answer.
  • 9 years ago

    Worst case: You murder a fellow skydiver over Four Corners, where New Mexico, Colorado, Arizona, and Utah's boundaries coincide. You are under FAA (federal), Navajo Nation, New Mexico, Colorado, Arizona, and Utah jurisdictions. Under the separate sovereigns doctrine, you can be tried and sentenced by all six without violating double jeopardy.

  • 5 years ago

    unlikely to take place. The study is in a jurisdiction and that's the place any trial may be held. The Prosecutor would desire to no longer attempt 2 human beings on the comparable time for the comparable case except he thinks they the two did it.

  • 9 years ago

    No, you can't. You can NEVER be tried for the same crime...well you can, but you would be going against the Constitution. :D

Still have questions? Get your answers by asking now.