# Double jeopardy **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [March 6, 2007, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/double-jeopardy/394810 "2007-03-06T15:46:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 56
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2007, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/double-jeopardy/394810/56 "2007-05-02T22:22:08Z")
The movie _Double Jeopardy_ having been discussed above, I am resurrecting this thread because of a new release: _Fracture_, starring Ryan Gosling and Anthony Hopkins. Spoilers for the movie follow below, so highlight at your own risk. [spoiler]In _Fracture_, Hopkins’ character, Ted Crawford, is acquitted of the attempted murder of his wife; he shot her but she survives in a coma. He then uses his standing as next-of-kin to remove her from life support, and she dies. He reasons he’s safe from re-prosecution because of the double jeopardy clause. However, new evidence comes to light - specifically, the bullet that was in her body and could not have been removed without killing her. The prosecutor, Willy Beachum (Ryan Gosling), decides to charge Crawford with murder - a different crime than “attempted murder” - which theoretically dodges the double jeopardy problem. Bingo, unrepentant killer gets what’s coming to him. Only… not. In real life, Crawford would be safe from reprosecution because of _Ashe v. Swenson_’s collateral estoppel rule, discussed above. The original trial ended in the film with a directed verdict, which operates just as an acquittal would have. That means the state is collaterally estopped from re-litigating any element of the murder that they had tried, and failed, to prove in the attempted murder trial. [/spoiler] Detailed discussion of this without involving massive spoiler box use may not be possible. --- _[View the full topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/double-jeopardy/394810)._