The Fifth Amendment Double Jeopardy Clause

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The Fifth Amendment Double Jeopardy Clause
The Fifth Amendment Double Jeopardy Clause bars the same sovereign to prosecute twice for the same act. Two States or the State and federal government could prosecute a defendant for the same crime and it would be constitutional. Both entities could be involved in the case and still not be considered a sham prosecution due to the dual soveriegn entities. The prosecutor upholding the Double Jeopardy Clause, Utilizing the dual sovereignty doctrine, and holding the collateral estoppel inapplicable in prosecuting.
In the case where prosecution from two states for the same conduct is not barred by the double jeopardy clause as in Heath v. Alabama, 474 U.S. 82 (1985). Defendant was convicted in Alabama …show more content…

The two men kidnapped his wife in Alabama and her body was found on the side of a road in Georgia. The accused plead guilty to the crime of malice murder in Georgia for the exchange of a sentence life in prison. But just after the trial the accused was tried in Alabama for the crime of murder during the kidnapping and rejected his claim of double jeopardy and was sentenced to death.
The dual sovereignty doctrine consists of a defendant violates the law of two sovereigns by breaking the law in each sovereign’s jurisdiction. The defendant has committed two distinct offenses for the purpose of the double jeopardy doctrine. The most important element of the sovereign doctrine is whether the two entities that seek to prosecute for the same conduct can be shown that they are separate sovereigns.
The accused was arrested in Georgia and waived his Maranda rights and gave a full confession of his coordination of his wife’s murder. He was convicted of malice murder. Then the State of Alabama convicted him with Capital Murder while kidnapping. Accused entered pleas of autrefois convict because he stated that the crime was committed in Georgia. The trial court held that two prosecutions were from two different states and the double jeopardy did not bar dual prosecutions by two distinct States for the same …show more content…

The Supreme Court of the United States stated that they are not going to consider if Alabama has any jurisdiction of this matter because the accused never claimed lack of jurisdiction in other lower courts and that question only rose in their court. It was also contended that if both convictions were made in the same State, then the Fifth Amendment Double Jeopardy Clause would bar it. The accused committed one act that transgresses the laws of two independent sovereigns which he commits two offenses which he could be justly

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