Law SCOTUS Votes 9-0 in Double Jeopardy case

[Dirt Road Soldier]

Everyone who even knows the slightest bit about law knows of, and understands how Double Jeopardy works. But this case is kinda weird, since the subject at the center of it all was convicted of two lesser crimes, but found not guilty by reason of insanity on the most serious charge. The Georgia Supreme Court said the just finding were repugnant and allowed the state to retry. SCOTUS disagreed.

Double jeopardy clause bars Georgia from retrying man acquitted by reason of insanity - SCOTUSblog

So what would you expect if a state supreme court wrote an opinion directly inconsistent with “perhaps the most fundamental rule” of the Supreme Court’s jurisprudence in the area, an opinion that would get a failing grade in any law school course on criminal law? Well, your first guess would be that

www.scotusblog.com

Now, I agree with SCOTUS on this. Georgie had their shot at him, and didn't get it done. However... It's odd how the just could find sane enough to be guilty on two charges, but not quite enough for the third. So I can actually see the point of view from the Georgia Supreme Court. It's a rather odd set of circumstances really.

 

[panamaican]

Everyone who even knows the slightest bit about law knows of, and understands how Double Jeopardy works. But this case is kinda weird, since the subject at the center of it all was convicted of two lesser crimes, but found not guilty by reason of insanity on the most serious charge. The Georgia Supreme Court said the just finding were repugnant and allowed the state to retry. SCOTUS disagreed.

Double jeopardy clause bars Georgia from retrying man acquitted by reason of insanity - SCOTUSblog

So what would you expect if a state supreme court wrote an opinion directly inconsistent with “perhaps the most fundamental rule” of the Supreme Court’s jurisprudence in the area, an opinion that would get a failing grade in any law school course on criminal law? Well, your first guess would be that

www.scotusblog.com

Now, I agree with SCOTUS on this. Georgie had their shot at him, and didn't get it done. However... It's odd how the just could find sane enough to be guilty on two charges, but not quite enough for the third. So I can actually see the point of view from the Georgia Supreme Court. It's a rather odd set of circumstances really.

The rule of law is always under attack by people who want the rule of emotion.

As for the circumstances? Georgia needs to write better criminal laws if they're finding out that the elements of one crime are inconsistent with lesser versions of the same crime.

 

[Joshuaace]

It's odd how the just could find sane enough to be guilty on two charges, but not quite enough for the third.

Imagine those Jury deliberations. And I'd be curious to see the Jury instructions to see if they even received proper guidance.

 

[panamaican]

Imagine those Jury deliberations. And I'd be curious to see the Jury instructions to see if they even received proper guidance.

If there was an error in jury instructions, that would have come up during jury deliberations.

The guy was convicted on 2 counts as "guilty but mentally ill" but acquitted on the 3rd count as "not guilty by reason of insanity". And that makes sense, if someone can be guilty and mentally ill then it sounds reasonable that they could be not guilty of something else by the same mental illness.

Georgia judges are just being salty.

 

[Scheme]

The insanity defense is the dumbest part of the legal system today.

 

[Joshuaace]

If there was an error in jury instructions, that would have come up during jury deliberations.

The guy was convicted on 2 counts as "guilty but mentally ill" but acquitted on the 3rd count as "not guilty by reason of insanity". And that makes sense, if someone can be guilty and mentally ill then it sounds reasonable that they could be not guilty of something else by the same mental illness.

Georgia judges are just being salty.

The threshold for "guilty but mentally ill" versus "not guilty by reason of insanity" is the same for all 3 charges. If that were made clear through Jury instructions, it is far less likely that they would have returned repugnant verdicts.

 

[Hog-train]

I wouldn't even allow OJ to be tried twice.

Otherwise, literally every person would be held guilty eventually.