SCOTUS: Double Jeopardy Doesn’t Bar Retrial After Inconsistent Verdicts

By Jessica DaSilva, Bloomberg BNA

The double jeopardy clause does not prevent the government from retrying defendants where the jury delivered inconsistent verdicts on related charges and the convictions were subsequently vacated by an unrelated error, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled today.

If anything, a jury’s failure to rule consistently supports the need for a retrial, reasoned Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, writing for the unanimous court.

The jury in this case convicted on a bribery charge, but acquitted on a conspiracy to travel and commit bribery charge. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit vacated the bribery charge ...