# Trayvon Martin, Rodney King, and Double Jeopardy

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trayvon-martin-rodney-king-and-double-jeopardy/663597>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [July 15, 2013, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trayvon-martin-rodney-king-and-double-jeopardy/663597 "2013-07-15T21:27:23Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\
**Post date:** [July 16, 2013, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trayvon-martin-rodney-king-and-double-jeopardy/663597/21 "2013-07-16T18:20:23Z")

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> [@Condescending\_Robot](#):
>
> Some civil rights prosecutions make sense because the accused was never in jeopardy in the first place–the total failure of state court systems to actually prosecute whites for killing blacks was the whole reason we have these laws. Can’t be double jeopardy, really.
> 
> In modern days, it can smack of just using legal castles in the sky to try someone twice for the same crime. But my understanding is that using these laws against George Zimmerman types (private actors) is very rare, and they are usually for cases like King where the accused was law enforcement, so the civil rights connection is clearer and the likelihood of them ever being held accountable at the local level basically non-existent.

That’s the rub. It makes sense if you’re talking about some sort of organized crime activity where it’s reasonable to believe that the system was corrupted. But this wasn’t a Klan lynching in the 1950’s or a Mob boss trial in the 1930’s. It was a fight between 2 people under debateable circumstances. IMHO, the Feds should have to show better cause than “we’re not happy that he wasn’t convicted” before they get involved. Otherwise, it just stinks of using legal loopholes to sidestep Double Jeopardy.

ETA: I do think police misconduct situations (like Rodney King) would be a reasonable use of civil rights prosecutions, because let’s face it: The police almost always work to protect their own in cases like this.

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