What ever happened to Double Jeopardy in Law?
Actually, you CANNOT be charged with new charges arising from the same course of action. However, you CAN be charged in FEDERAL Court after a STATE trial, and you can be sued in any civil court after a criminal trial. Double Jeopardy does not apply in those circumstances. EDIT: To address your additional comments… The Double Jeopardy Clause of the 5th amendment to the Constitution, applicable to the states via the 14th amendment, prohibits the government from putting a person twice in jeopardy for the same crime. Other statutes require prosecutors to bring all available charges (as supported by the evidence) at one time. Therefore, a prosecution in a single jurisdiction which results in a final judgment can only take place once. This does not prohibit multiple jurisdictions (other states or the federal government) from trying a defendant on crimes in that jurisdiction. Here, the federal gov’t is looking into civil rights violations, which is exclusively the province of federal jurisd
