no.
Posted on: June 8, 2021 at 13:35:10 CT
pickle
MU
Posts:
267340
Member For:
26.44 yrs
Level:
User
M.O.B. Votes:
0
The appellees in this case were convicted in previous trials of conspiracy to possess unregistered firearms, explosives, and false identification. Subsequently, they were indicted on charges that they aided and abetted in the bombing of several Washington buildings during 1983 and 1984. The district court determined that the double jeopardy clause of the fifth amendment barred the subsequent prosecution of the appellees because the government planned to establish the appellees' liability for the bombings by using the same actual evidence that the government had used to convict the appellees of conspiracy in their earlier trials. Because we find no support for the use of a "same actual evidence" test in assessing whether successive prosecutions violate the double jeopardy clause, we reverse and remand. We note, however, that under established double jeopardy guidelines the government would be precluded from prosecuting the appellees for the substantive bombings charged if the sole theory of prosecution is vicarious liability under Pinkerton v. United States, 328 U.S. 640, 66 S. Ct. 1180, 90 L. Ed. 1489 (1946).