Posted on 03/21/2009 10:59:37 AM PDT by rgr
Double jeopardy in before US Supreme Court HOUSTON
A former Enron Corp. executive is hoping a little known component of the Fifth Amendment's double jeopardy clause will help him avoid a retrial on charges related to financial fraud at the once mighty energy giant.
Attorneys for F. Scott Yeager are set to present oral arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday on the issue of whether double jeopardy prevents prosecutors from retrying individuals after a jury votes not guilty on some charges, but fails to reach a verdict on others that share an element with the acquitted charges.
Prosecutors contend retrying Yeager on counts the jury couldn't decide doesn't raise double jeopardy issues. Yeager was one of five former executives from Enron's failed broadband venture who were tried in 2005.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.aol.com ...
Double jeopardy “a little known component”
Maybe to those who don’t care on whit about the Constitution.
Only file a few charges. If the prosecutor loses he can file a few more. Repeat. Eventually the defendant goes bankrupt and the federal prosecutor gets another notch on the ol’ promotion belt.
There is actually one case in U.S. history where a guy was tried for murder, found not guilty and then, twenty years later, was retried for the same murder and found guilty.
That was a movie....;0)
Remember, with the Silence of the Lambs guy.
I’m torn on this one. Enron is so hated that I am suspicious of whether these guys are getting a fair trial.
On the other hand, I hope the Supreme Court doesn’t take their ruling too far. Say some lowlife someone rapes a woman. Five minutes after he leaves, she dies of an unrelated cause. The lowlife is arrested for rape and murder. He gets abosolved of murder, and the jury deadlocks on rape.
Three months later, fairly strong evidence of the rape emerges. Should the lowlife get a free pass?
No, it really happened in real life.
... OJ?
Harry Aleman
Double jeopardy is long gone. The LA cops in the Rodney King thing. Found not guilty in Simi Valley, and the villagers in LA burned their huts down in a riot. So Bush1 ordered the justice dept to try them again on civil rights violations charges.
Of course the Feds changed the statute number, but the fact remains that they were *tried twice* on the same facts. It was the clear intent of the founders to prohibit this.
One day we will probably be forced to seize our birthright constitution back from the republicrat/democans. Its just a fact, they will never give it back, if we will have it, we must take it. The simple fact is, the government of today sees the constitution as something to get around. They do not take pride in the limits it imposes upon them.
VERY well put sir.
As truly sad as that would be, at what cost should we retry him? Is it worth the principle that the government can pursue someone as long as they please? 20 years ago, im certain i would have been with you 100%. What has changes it for me is that we are rapidly losing our freedom to a socialist oligarchy.
Examples of political prosecutions abound. Joe the plumber and his taxes,, Rush Limbaugh and his bout with painkiller abuse after his back surgery, The Haditha Marines, threats in Missourri to prosecute critics of Obama, the border patrol agents, the Rodney King cops, and yes, even some at enron.
While honest people can disagree as to the merits of each case, nobody can honestly say that these were all not DEEPLY political. Corrupt government means the reigns need to be held a little tight right now IMO.
I mean this sincerely, some die for our freedom on the battlefields. Those that did, gave up everything for us. Sometimes a citizen at home, such as the dead woman in the example, has to accept that preserving our Constitutional protections means someone besides soldiers must also bute the bullet sometimes.
Hopefully, the male relatives of the victim will set things right.
A former Enron Corp. executive is hoping a little known component of the Fifth Amendment's double jeopardy clause will help him avoid a retrial on charges related to financial fraud at the once mighty energy giant.He might be better off on Wheel of Fortune.
I was half right!
There is actually one case in U.S. history where a guy was tried for murder, found not guilty and then, twenty years later, was retried for the same murder and found guilty.I believe you're referring to Chicago Mobster, Harry 'The Hitman' Aleman.
The funny thing is, if you can call a shotgun murder funny, is that it wasn't an 'authorized' Hit. The target (Dead Guy) wasn't even a mobster. The murder was a personal issue about one of Harry's female cousins.He was originally found Not Guilty in Bench Trial for murder. Which shocked everyone as there was an eyewitness to the murder plus the prosecution had tons of other evidence, and that Harry wanted a Bench Trial in the first place.
BUT, in a latter Federal investigation of corruption into the Cook County Courts - judges, bailiffs, LAWYERS - it was found that the judge in Harry Aleman's murder trial received a $10,000 bribe to find Harry, Not Guilty. But before that Judge was brought to trial he committed suicide and left a note as to his accepting the $10K bribe.
With that confession and the Lawyer who paid off the judge, prosecutors sought to retry Harry for that murder. His lawyer's argued 'Double Jeopardy'. However, the Federal court found that since the Chicago Mob had bribed the judge (successfully), Harry Aleman never was 'in jeopardy' to begin with.
So Harry 'The Hitman' Aleman was retried in Cook County Court, found guilty by a jury, and is now spending the rest of his life in prison.
an aside; At the time of the murder (when Harry was younger), just looking at him scared the sh*t out of you. As it was said, "He had 'dead eyes', black - like a shark's."
Its going to take a second American revolution.... The tree of liberty must be watered periodically with the blood of patriots and tyrants.
It doesn't say double jeopardy is a "little known component" of the Constitution; it says (quite accurately) that the collateral estoppel doctrine is a "little known component of the double jeopardy clause."
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