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| Mouth-Off Main PageThe 5th Amendment says, " . . . nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb."
The spirit of this law was to prevent a prosecuting team from waging a relentless war against an accused criminal. With multiple trials the defendant has to muster up the energy (and funds) to defend him/herself repeatedly. The prosecutor also gains the opportunity to change its case and attack from a new angle after learning from its first defeat.
The Rodney King and OJ cases both clearly violate the 5th amendment and also show us why the amendment is so important. When the police who beat Rodney were found innocent which infuriated the black community, the president quickly reassured everyone that there would be another trial in a black community and insinuated that the police would be found guilty in the second trial. The final result was two trials with different results and a nation divided.
OJ was found innocent by a black jury, and is now suffering through the second trial for the same crime. OJ, now broke and exhausted, will be tried in front of a white jury where he will very likely be found guilty. Once again: two trials, same crime, and most likely different conclusions.
Many lawyers argue that these cases are not double jeopardy because one trial is a criminal case (for jail or death) and the other is a civil case (for money). But the 5th Amendment does not say that one can be tried twice for the same crime as long as the punishment is different. It says one won’t be tried twice for the same crime (period).
There should be only one trial in which the different penalties like jail time and monetary loss will be decided at once. Not only would this system be more efficient and fair, it would be in adhering to the spirit of the constitution.
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