Arraignment, Bail, Bonds, Pretrial The meaning of the "Double Jeopardy" concept

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Michael Wechsler

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What exactly is double jeopardy? If somebody got caught shopliftting but they already had been charged with it, can they still indite you?

Double jeopardy is being prosecuted twice for the same criminal offense. Your freedom being in jeopardy exists when a jury is sworn in, or when evidence is introduced and you are in "jeopardy" of being convicted for a crime. The constitution prohibits this from happening but there can be another trial if there were procedural errors in the first trial or if the jury could not reach a verdict. It seems that if a defendant fixed a case in the a trial there isn't a preclusion of a second trial on the grounds of double jeopardy from another trial because the defendant was never really in jeopardy.
 
Insanity

as that also in the case of someone who was deemed insane at the time of the crime and then get an aquittal and committed to mental hospital. My mother was murdered 9/28/1991 and the guy that shoot her has been in a mental hospital since the day of the murder and on may 4, 2001 the courts accepted his pleas of insanity. i think this is so wrong
 
Re: Insanity

Originally posted by elkrib57:
as that also in the case of someone who was deemed insane at the time of the crime and then get an aquittal and committed to mental hospital. My mother was murdered 9/28/1991 and the guy that shoot her has been in a mental hospital since the day of the murder and on may 4, 2001 the courts accepted his pleas of insanity. i think this is so wrong
My understanding of the way it is supposed to work is that the court would not accept an insanity plea unless the court was convinced that the defendant was insane as recognized by law. If that was the case, then the case had been tried and the defendant could not be retried again. It might be different if the defendant plead insanity but later it was discovered that the defendant was not insane and that it was a ruse.
 
insanity

:confused: 9 and a half years is a long time for discovery. the fact of the matter he was released from prison 7 days before he murdered my mom and i believe something is rotten in this case washington state. i was born and raised there and it sickens me to think that justice is that blind. in 3 out of the last 10 years no court dates were scheduled. i just need answers and the prosecuting attorney is useless and doesn't really know the case i almost came out of my phone when he told me i don't know about that and it was something he should have known. :mad: :eek:
 
Re: insanity

Originally posted by elkrib57:
:confused: 9 and a half years is a long time for discovery.
9 and a half years for discovery? :eek: This can't be right. You mean he was charged with the crime and pretrial discovery took 9 years? That's really screwed up. I still don't think that is a double jeopardy issue but something very bizarre going on. Was the crazy guy kept in jail for that long? I would think his attorney would say that this would be unfair to keep him jailed for that long just for discovery. But you did say he was acquitted but sent to a mental hospital. I'm not sure that all the terminology is right. Was there an agreement for this guy to be committed to a mental hospital or was he flat out acquitted?
 
yes, 9 and a half years to plead insanity

the man that shoot my mother was released from monroe state corrections on sept 21, 1991 he stayed at some locale motels and on the day he shot my mom he rode the bus to a neighborhood near the school at which his mother taught, he got off the bus and went to the second house kicked in the door because he thought that no one was home, i left 15 minutes before he came. they caught him 1 hour later and he spent 2 days in jail and was committed to wester state metal hospital for an evaluation of his mental condition and he gets better and then they say but not for trial. he get back in a funk and they start all over again. 3 years the prosecuting attorney did absolutely zero court dates 1994, 1998, 1999. I can not believe it took this long and that he was aquitted and plead insanity and sent back to western state mental hospital where he will remain until they can get him to be normal.:mad: :confused: :( :eek:
 
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