BREAKING per Huffington......Justice Department To Review Zimmerman Case

[JDPriestly]

124. It isn't double jeopardy because the Justice Department would bring different charges than

the state court did.




Wex

all pages
articles
español
Inbox Project
search
FAQ

Double Jeopardy

Overview
Resources
For example

The Double Jeopardy Clause in the Fifth Amendment to the US Constitution prohibits anyone from being prosecuted twice for substanially the same crime. See, e.g. United States v. Ursery, 518 US 267 (1996).

See also:

The Annotated Constitution of the United States entry on double jeopardy

Definition from Nolo’s Plain-English Law Dictionary
A rule from the Fifth Amendment to the U S Constitution that prohibits a criminal efendant from being twice made to stand trial for the same offense. A defendant is put "in jeopardy" once the jury is sworn. If the prosecutor moves to dismiss the case after that, the defendant cannot be retried. When a judge dismisses a case, however, a retrial is generally possible unless the dismissal was engineered by the prosecutor's misconduct, or there was no overriding necessity to dismiss the case. Double jeopardy protects defendants only for retrials brought within the original jurisdiction, which is why a defendant can be tried in federal court after being tried in state court. Double jeopardy does not prevent trial in a civil court on underlying facts that previously formed the basis of a criminal trial.

Definition provided by Nolo’s Plain-English Law Dictionary.

http://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/double_jeopardy

Different jurisdiction/different law = different charges in this case.