The US Supreme Court won’t consider whether the constitutional prohibition on double jeopardy prohibits prosecutors from refiling murder charges decades after a mistrial.
The justices on Monday declined to take up the appeal of John Kevin Woodward, who was twice tried for the 1992 murder of his roommate’s girlfriend, Laurie Houts. Both juries deadlocked on whether to convict Woodward and a judge dismissed the charges in 1996.
Prosecutors recharged Woodward in 2022, citing advancements in DNA technology.
Woodward argues the new charges violate the Fifth Amendment’s prohibition on double jeopardy, which bars prosecutions for substantially the same crime.
Citing California ...
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