TIL that in the US, you could get acquitted from state charges, but the federal government can still prosecute on the same offences, due to a doctine known as the Dual Sovereignty Doctrine.
TIL that in the US, you could get acquitted from state charges, but the federal government can still prosecute on the same offences, due to a doctine known as the Dual Sovereignty Doctrine.
Didn't exactly learned this "today" but the first time I heard of this, I was kinda surprised at this fact. I thought y'all should know since there is a case in the news that people are calling for Jury Nullification or Pardons. That could get a bit tricky considering this Dual Sovereignty Doctrine.
Pardons require a sympathetic governor, which will never happen.
Jury nullification requires that everyone on the jury votes not-guilty, which is a pretty high bar to hit.
A hung jury, on the other hand, simply requires one or more members of the jury to vote not-guilty. He could still be re-tried, of course, but having just one principled person is a lot easier than having all 12.
Iirc many states only call it a hung jury if a minority of jurors vote not guilty. The three outcomes are unanimous guilty, hung jury, and majority innocent.
This requires the crime to both be federally prohibited and under federal jurisdiction. Stuff like murder doesn't typically fall under federal jurisdiction unless borders are crossed or federal property is involved or something like that.
Does that include state borders, because he did cross those didn't he?
Not a lawyer, but I don't think the murderer crossing state lines matters. The murderer kidnapping the victims, crossing state boarders, and then killing does.
I presume attacking across the boarder would also count.
It might mean the feds help search for him, not guaranteed to mean federal charges
I'm not a lawyer, but I'm pretty sure his gun was illegal, and he carried it across state lines. Those gun charges are probably prosecutable under federal laws. The murder tho, I'm not really sure.
Crossposted it to !AskUSA@discuss.online
Fun fact: A prosecutor can screw up a case so badly, no other prosecutor can or will pick it up.