Can these people be charged?

[Drum God]

Obviously, the real-life DA of Travis County will decide, but I'm curious what y'all think:

Real life crime in Austin. To summarize. In 1989, a man is beaten by a group of other men. The victim is left for dead. The victim survives, but has severe health issues that plague the rest of his life. Victim goes on to live a mostly normal life, marrying, has children, and goes about his business. The men who beat him are apprehended, charged with attempted murder, and convicted. The serve a probated sentence.

Flash forward to 2005. The victim of the 1989 beating dies. Doctors attribute his death to health issues stemming from his 1989 assault. Austin police treat the case as a homicide. However, the perpetrators of this homicide have already been convicted of a crime in this case.

So, can they be tried? How can double jeopardy be avoided, since no new crime was committed? As unfortunate as this is, it seems that these guys will get away with murder. Or, since the victim has now died, does that make a new crime? No longer have these men committed attempted murder, since the victim has since died as a result of their actions.

[Whack-a-Mole]

IANAL but some things to ponder about...

There is no statute of limitations on murder that I am aware of so that does not help them.

Double jeopardy applies to being tried for the same crime twice. So, they could not be tried for attempted murder twice (assuming they had been found innocent on the first go around). Remember the police in the Rodney King deal? They were found innocent in the state court but were tried again under federal law for a different crime even though it related to the same actions...no double jeopardy.

If these guys were found guilty of murder would the time spent in jail for attempted murder count as "time served" and apply to whatever new sentence they would get?

[h.sapiens]

IANAL but some things to ponder about...

There is no statute of limitations on murder that I am aware of so that does not help them.

Double jeopardy applies to being tried for the same crime twice. So, they could not be tried for attempted murder twice (assuming they had been found innocent on the first go around). Remember the police in the Rodney King deal? They were found innocent in the state court but were tried again under federal law for a different crime even though it related to the same actions...no double jeopardy.

If these guys were found guilty of murder would the time spent in jail for attempted murder count as "time served" and apply to whatever new sentence they would get?

Okay, but what if someone is arrested for something slightly ambiguous. The DA doesn't think there's enough evidence to prove a more serious charge, so they are charged with something minor. The defendent is aquitted, and then more evidence comes to light which makes the more serious charge easier to prove. The DA can't turn around and charge them with the more serious crime, right?

I'm not sure if this applies in this case, though.