ivegotthemic
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Technically the double jeopardy provision of the Fifth Amendment does not stand as a bar to a federal prosecution even though a state conviction based on the same acts has already been obtained, the Supreme Court ruled in Jerome v. U.S., 318 U.S. 101, 63 S. Ct. 483, 87 L. Ed. 640 (1943). So if in the current case for whatever reason LV or CD were not found guilty of murder they could technically then be charged at the federal level for the same acts without invoking double jeopardyBelow is a link and at very top it summarizes the Double Jeopardy clause and like anything else with legal stipulations it is a little confusing. lol
I missed that other lawyer's comments about his theory but after reading through the example cases that are listed below the summary, I am starting to understand why that lawyer may have had concerns about it.
Its not as clear cut and dry as we would think it was.
Double Jeopardy
I was also able to find a precedent that if prosecutors choose not to file homicide charges in the current proceedings, they may be able to file a separate case at the state level without invoking double jeopardy
The Double Jeopardy Clause did not prohibit a state from continuing its prosecution of a defendant on the charges of murder and aggravated robbery after the defendant pled guilty to two lesser offenses arising from the same episode, held the United States Supreme Court in Ohio v. Johnson, 467 U.S. 493, 104 S. Ct. 2536, 81 L. Ed. 2d 425 (1984).
However, if they dont feel the case is strong enough to file murder charges now it seems unlikely that would change in the future. I have no idea if they would retry, but there are a couple of options if that route becomes necessary