Say you have been found guilty of killing Joe Schmoe, even though his body was never found. You are sentenced to Twenty years and you serve everyday of it.
Now you are free and you are walking down the street. You see Joe Schmoe. In a fit of uncontrolable rage you grab him and kill him.
Should and could you be tried again for killing him?
2007-07-14 04:46:53 · 9 answers · asked by Edward F 4 in Politics & Government ➔ Law & Ethics
I'm not trying to make this a moral question, I think it should be clear that cold blooded murder is wrong. I just wonder how the legal system could morally handle the situation.
2007-07-14 05:00:10 · update #1
Interesting question indeed!
The fact of the matter from a very simple view of the law is this: NO. You cannot be tried for the murder because you have already been found guilty and served your time for the crime. This is known as Double Jeopardy.
HOWEVER
Law is never simple, lol. As you had technically NOT committed the crime before, but served your time, any prosecutor worth their salt will attempt to get you a check from the government for the faux pas of wrongful imprisonment, and then have a whole new trial for your murder. And on the defense side of the matter, the fact would be played that your crime was an “Act of Passion” and the reason you went homicidally crazy will become readily apparent to the Jury. You’ll get a reduced sentence.
This most likely how the trial would be played out in court.
2007-07-14 05:05:19 · answer #1 · answered by Slipshade 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
No.
If you were convicted of the murder (not attempted murder) 20 years ago, you cannot be convicted again. Murder is a weird exception to the normal double jeopardy rule, in most states.
That's based on the literal text of the provision, however many states have statutory intent rules to eliminate this obsurdity.
2007-07-14 04:50:54 · answer #2 · answered by coragryph 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Theoretically...no.
That would be double jeopardy. You cannot be tried twice for the same crime in the same court of law. Assuming you served 20 years, it's likely you were tried in a federal or state-level court.
At most, you could be tried in a civil court by the family for monetary damages.
Two prime examples of this would be the OJ Simpson trials (acquitted in state court for two counts of homicide, and then found guilty in civil court and forced to pay obscene amounts of money to the families) and the movie by the same name as the law - Double Jeopardy.
2007-07-14 04:51:49 · answer #3 · answered by theREALtruth.com 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Double Jeopardy is being tried two times for the comparable charge, i.e. if the case grew to become into re-opened in easy of recent information, you need to no longer be prosecuted for the comparable charge. this does not follow to diverse crimes in any different case in fact the rule of thumb could be 'in case you dedicate this crime you would be punished for it, yet after the punishment has been performed you are able to dedicate the comparable crime as much as you like' e.g. I killed somebody 2 an prolonged time in the past, now i'm out of penitentiary and killing as much as i prefer.
2016-11-09 07:39:34 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Double jeopardy, but do not play that game, you will loose. You are watching to many movies. You do make a point and it does have some merit, but I would suggest against it. you can not be convicted of the same exact crime twice, but there are loop holes to this defense. there are other charges that could be brought against you and it would not be worth it.
2007-07-14 04:59:36 · answer #5 · answered by schneider2294@sbcglobal.net 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You shouldn't have to be placed in jeopardy twice for the same crime. In this case, the crime, in my opinion, wouldn't be the same. You may have been unjustly convicted for a crime that never occurred, but you would definitely be guilty of murder in the second instance.
Wouldn't it be more prudent to simply hold the guy until the police came, clear your name, and collect appropriate damages?
2007-07-14 04:53:43 · answer #6 · answered by James S 4 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Well it couldn't possibly be Joe because he's already dead and you've been convicted of that. No, you'd then be convicted of killing a complete stranger based on mistaken identity.
2007-07-14 04:53:22 · answer #7 · answered by webned 6 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Once you kill a person ....they're dead. You can't kill them again.
If you kill someone else, it's a whole new ballgame.
I'm guessin' you knew that already.
2007-07-14 04:55:37 · answer #8 · answered by Jack 6 · 0⤊ 1⤋
wouldn't that be called double jeopardy
2007-07-14 04:50:14 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋