Double Jeopardy (Noun)
Meaning
The prosecution of a defendant for a criminal offense for which he has already been tried; prohibited in the fifth amendment to the United States Constitution.
Classification
Nouns denoting acts or actions.
Examples
- A conviction for the same offense in another state does not preclude prosecution in the original state, or vice versa, unless it constitutes double jeopardy.
- His lawyers argued that retrying him for the crime would be a clear case of double jeopardy, but the prosecution disagreed.
- In the United States, the double jeopardy clause of the Fifth Amendment, which prevents the state from retrying a defendant for an offense of which they have already been acquitted or convicted.
- The judge rejected the claim that the prosecution's attempt to try him for the same crime again would expose him to double jeopardy.
- Double jeopardy attaches when jeopardy has attached in a prior prosecution, meaning when the jury is sworn in and the first witness is called.