Legal Question in Constitutional Law in Tennessee
an accurated description of double jepordy
we saw a movie about a lady that was charged for her husbands murder, he staged his death, and a lawyer told her that if she was to kill him when she found out he was alive that she could not be convicted again .. is this an accurate description of double jepordy... and she served time for it the first time ...
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: an accurated description of double jepordy
No. Being mistakenly convicted for a crime that never happened would not prevent a prosecution for actually committing that crime later.
The movie you describe is (inappropriately) called "Double Jeopardy" and is notorious among lawyers because its entire plot is based on this complete misunderstanding of the law.
Double jeopardy has some subtle nuances, but the gist of it is that a defendant can't be put on trial twice for the *same* allegedly criminal act. The non-existant murder for which the character was originally convicted is not the same act as the actual murder she hoped to commit, so there would be no bar to prosecuting her a second time.
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