Do Federal Charges In The Kate Steinle Case Count As Double Jeopardy?

[jimnyc]

Of course not.

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Do Federal Charges In The Kate Steinle Case Count As Double Jeopardy?

In response to an announcement by the Department of Justice (DOJ) that it may bring new charges against the man recently acquitted of murder in the Kate Steinle case, many people on Twitter suggested that new DOJ charges would count as double jeopardy, and therefore be unconstitutional.

Verdict: False

Double jeopardy, or being tried for the same offense twice, is prohibited by the U.S. Constitution. However, the “dual sovereignty” doctrine allows the federal government to charge a person for an offense that violates federal law, even if the individual was already charged by a state or local government. Additionally, the DOJ could bring charges for different crimes, which would not count as double jeopardy.

Fact Check:

A California jury found Jose Ines Garcia Zarate not guilty Thursday on charges of murder, involuntary manslaughter and assault with a deadly weapon in the death of Steinle, but convicted him of being a felon in possession of a firearm.

The Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution protects Zarate from double jeopardy, saying no person shall “be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb.” But the dual sovereignty doctrine allows different government jurisdictions to bring similar charges relating to the same event.

“It’s not double jeopardy to be tried by ‘another sovereign,'” Susan Bloch, a constitutional law professor at Georgetown University, told The Daily Caller News Foundation.

This means that the federal government, a different “sovereign” than the state of California, could bring charges against Zarate without it counting as double jeopardy.

Rest - http://dailycaller.com/2017/12/05/fa...uble-jeopardy/

[Black Diamond]

No. You can tried at the federal level and the state level.

You can also be tried, as orenthal was, at the criminal court and again in the civil court.