# Double Jeopardy **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 9, 2000, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/double-jeopardy/28717 "2000-08-09T16:46:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![SixStringSamurai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c4cdca/32.png) [@SixStringSamurai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SixStringSamurai)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2000, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/double-jeopardy/28717/1 "2000-08-09T16:46:36Z")
I’m sure this has been discussed before but I was wondering about the legal reality of a situation like the one in the film “Double Jeopardy”. I haven’t seen the film but the situation is as I understand is: A woman is found guilty of killing her husband and jailed. She gets out and learns he is indeed alive and had her framed. The premise is that she can now kill him and can’t be tried again because of the prohibition against double jeopardy. My first thought is that this is a complete load of dingo’s kidneys in that she would not be tried for the same crime twice because we are talking about two completely different sets of events. Whatever recourse she has for haveing been unfaily found guilty, if any, is irrelevant to the new incident. Is there any basis in reality for the premise of this film? ---
**Author:** ![Jman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jman/32/4416_2.png) [@Jman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jman)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2000, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/double-jeopardy/28717/2 "2000-08-09T16:59:30Z")
I’m not a lawyer in any way, but this is my take. First, the plot so many holes in it, but ignoring those: I think that in fact, no, she could not be tried for that crime again. She’d already been convicted, and she’d not be granted a pardon, just let out on parole. Now, since she violated her parole in order to catch the sleaze, if she killed him again, the parole board would simply put her back in jail for a parole violation. They’d probably never let her out again, as what she did on parole certainly showed that she is not sorry for killing her husband. This is what I understand would happen. While the double jeopardy rule does sound stupid in this instance…do realize that she’d already served her sentence for his murder, so even though she was wrongly convicted, and then killed her husband in a different case, they’d probably sentencer her to time served…with the exception of the parole violation, which would then probably keep her in for life anyway. Jman ---
**Author:** ![MadHatter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f6c823/32.png) [@MadHatter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MadHatter)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2000, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/double-jeopardy/28717/3 "2000-08-09T17:04:45Z")
I am also not a lawyer… But my guess is they would convict her on a different charge. Eg. If she was initially convited on 1st degree murder, they would now trial her for 2nd degree murder, or perhaps manslaughter. ---
**Author:** ![manhattan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manhattan/32/7_2.png) [@manhattan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/manhattan)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2000, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/double-jeopardy/28717/4 "2000-08-09T17:05:52Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by SixStringSamurai \* > \*\*I’m sure this has been discussed before \*\* Than please do the membership the courtesy of entering the words “double” and “jeopardy” into the archive search engine. ---
**Author:** ![SixStringSamurai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c4cdca/32.png) [@SixStringSamurai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SixStringSamurai)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2000, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/double-jeopardy/28717/5 "2000-08-09T17:45:26Z")
Oops…sorry. I’ll do a search next time. Below is a link to a previous discussion. [http://boards.straightdope.com/ubb/Forum3/HTML/002878.html](http://boards.straightdope.com/ubb/Forum3/HTML/002878.html) ---
**Author:** ![manhattan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manhattan/32/7_2.png) [@manhattan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/manhattan)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2000, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/double-jeopardy/28717/6 "2000-08-09T22:03:13Z")
No problemo. Today you learned the answer to your question _and_ some board etiquitte. That is a good thing. Since there are several threads on this subject, I’ll close this copy.