Homicide, Murder, Manslaughter Double Jeopardy

Rmbha

New Member
Jurisdiction
Indiana
In 1996 a person surrendered, turned over the illegal weapon used in a homicide and was charged with first-degree murder. The person was offered a plea agreement and plead guilty to a lesser charge of reckless homicide due to the alleged manner in which the crime was committed.

Twenty years later, the alleged manner of how the crime occurred was proven to be scientifically impossible, thus, it was impossible for the person to have committed the crime, reckless homicide, of which they were convicted.

Can a wrongful conviction after a plea agreement be overturned by order of the court, removing double jeopardy, and the original charge of murder be filed?
 
You asked: Can a wrongful conviction after a plea agreement be overturned by order of the court, removing double jeopardy, and the original charge of murder be filed?

Yes, but its extremely rare. Plea deals are like armored cars, hard to bust into, but occasionally possible.

Don't get your hopes up, be prepared for a lengthy battle, and you'll need a very smart, dedicated, passionate attorney to pursue the prize.

Google "The Innocence Project".

You'll need a lawyer or a group of lawyers that believes as "The Innocence Project" believes.

Good luck.
 
OP, who are you in all of this?

Judge, sounds like the OP wants to know if the plea deal can be tossed and the original charge re-instated based on the fact that the crime this person pled guilty too was not possible.

Plea deals are offered all the time where the reduced charge was not actually committed, e.g. an assault charge is reduced to something like disorderly conduct.

Maybe it's because I'm not an attorney, but OP's point is a bit difficult to understand.

If it was he who was charged then why would he want to take a more serious charge?
 
OP, who are you in all of this?




If it was he who was charged then why would he want to take a more serious charge?

I agree, some posts are hard to follow.
I usually take a stab at them, hoping the OP returns to help me better understand.

I took this one to read, guy plead out, now believes that the victim couldn't have been killed according to prosecution's theory.

But, plea deals are ironclad.
DNA has allowed many individuals wrongfully convicted to exonerate themselves.

Murder convictions are more difficult, even with physics or ballistics to contradict the original claims.

Let's hope the poster returns to help us better understand what he/she was trying to communicate.
 
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