Say you committed a murder but due to a lack of evidence you are found not guilty at trial. You then immediately walk outside and proclaim “I killed him! It was me!” to a crowd. Does the 5th amendment protect you from being taken to court again in the US?
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technically yes it protects you. it’s called “double jeopardy.” if you’re tried for a crime and found not guilty you cannot be retried for the same offense or related crimes. however if they can prove you lied on the stand if you chose to testify, you could face charges for perjury.
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You can’t be re-charged with the exact same crime, but it’s quite possible they could charge something closely related that wasn’t already charged.
So if they found you not guilty for stealing something in someone’s home, and you admitted it after the trial, they could charge you with breaking and entering. Additionally, the victim could sue you in civil court.
Generally, yes, but you should still be careful. If you, for example, get found not guilty at the state level if there is any possibility of a federal prosecution (like a civil rights violation) for the same act you can still be found guilty of that. You can’t be found guilty of a lesser charge for the same criminal act that you’ve been found not guilty of, but if you commit several distinct criminal acts your admitting to the murder may be used against you for those crimes. You also open yourself up to a civil wrongful death lawsuit (like OJ Simpson) from the victim’s family in such a case.
Worked for OJ
you can’t be prosecuted again, but you’d get slapped immediately with a civil suit and lose.
If you’re found not guilty we can never come for you again. The family can come after you in civil court but you can’t return to criminal court for it.
You are protected.
However, if you steal your own sports memorabilia down the road and have to go back on trial, the judge may remember you’re a murderer and give you a few extra years beyond what is reasonable.
Only for the specific charge brought against you the first time
They’d find a way to bag you on a different charge. And your victim’s estate would then have the easiest wrongful death case of all time.
The state and feds are considered separate for double jeopardy. So if you’re acquitted in a state trial, the federal government can still charge you under any relevant federal law.
You get slapped with perjury charges and end up in jail anyways on a different charge.
If you kill someone, keep it to your damn self.
You’d be protected from the specific initial charge; however, they could now look into closely related charges.
There was a case where a man took photos of himself and another woman sexually assaulting and killing a woman. He was found innocent but later those photos were discovered and turned over to the police. They charged him with a different crime. Unfortunately, I can’t remember his name.
Edit: I found the case. His name was Mel Ignatow
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mel_Ignatow
Yes, but it doesn’t protect you from a civil lawsuit.
This has happened. The first case that popped into my head was the Emmitt Till murder.
You are not immune from civil liability
You are protected from criminal conviction but survivors can sue you in civil court.
You mean like if you got acquitted and then wrote a book called “if I did it” detailing how in fact you killed them? Yeah you’re good homie.
You are protected, but there was a dateline story about a guy that got away with murder and they late found proof that he actually did it and went to jail. Even though he was found not guilty, he did testify on the stand under oath that he did not commit the murder. So when they found the proof after his trial, he went to jail for 10 years for perjury.
EDIT: Found him. It was Mel Ignatow. Lucky Sob.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mel_Ignatow
You could still be sued civilly, and ruined financially.
Yes in criminal court. However you could be sued in civil court, as well as tried for a civil rights violation.
Are you asking for OJ, or Casey Anthony?
You’re protected criminally, but you’re going to get whomped in the civil trial as you admitted guilt.
Can’t be charged twice for the same crime. Double jeopardy and all that shit.
OJ Simpson literally wrote a book of how he did it.lll
I believe you can’t be prosecuted criminally again (double jeopardy) but the family could sue you in civil suit and your confession would likely affect the outcome.
Yes, double jeopardy protects you. This is what Emmett Till’s murderers did. After being found not guilty, they sold their story to a magazine and proudly bragged and gave explicit details on how they kidnapped, tortured, and killed him.
Double jeopardy would prevent subsequent criminal action on the same matter against you, but if you publicly admitted to the murder you’d open yourself up to getting absolutely destroyed in civil court when the family of the guy you killed sues you.Look at OJ Simpson, he beat the criminal charges but got wrecked in the civil suit, and that was way before that whole thing where he was gonna publish a book essentially taking credit for the killings.
You would lose the civil case pretty quickly
You’re protected from criminal penalties, but I would imagine every single person in the victim’s immediate family will file a civil suit against you before the quote even gets online.
Under the principle of “Dual Sovereignty” I believe if you commit a crime that violates both state and federal law, then you can be tried seperately under both. So in some cases, you could be tried a second time by your state government under state law if the first trial was under the federal government and federa law, or vice versa. Outside of that though, youd be protected.
You can’t be charged with the same crime, but they could charge him with a related offense or likely perjury.
You could still be held CIVILY liable for wrongful death, like OJ Simpson. Civil Trial have a lower threshold for standard of proof than criminal trials.
The standard of proof for CRIMINAL trials is, “beyond a reasonable doubt.” For civil trials, it is usually, “preponderance of the evidence.”
Have you not heard of OJ Simpson?
My (non-lawyer, but I know a bunch of them) understanding is: Sort of. The statement alone would not be grounds for a retrial.
However, the prosecutor’s office could likely use that statement as cause to open new lines of investigation. If they find substantial new evidence they missed before, that would be grounds for a new trial. Depending on jurisdiction and specific details, you might also end up subject to a whole new investigation by other jurisdictions or the Feds. Or some grieving family of the victim might just shoot you, and the odds are a jury wouldn’t convict them.
Bottom line: If you get acquitted of a crime you committed, be happy and don’t brag about it in public.
If I understand it, it’s not the 5th but ‘double jeopardy’ that prevents you from another trial. Once a verdict is read, that’s what stands and no court can try you for the same crime.
Double indemnity would protect you from further prosecution. You wouldn’t need the 5th. However, you could be sued for wrongful death in a civil court.
Civil court could still happen right?
Double indemnity. You can’t be tried again if found innocent, BUT you can be sued for wrongful death in a civil court and made to pay untold amounts of money.
Yes. But, not against a subsequent civil suit. The exclamation would be a statement against interest and serve as the basis for civil liability.
It’s not the 5th amendment. It’s the principle of ‘double jeopardy’. Double jeopardy means a jury cannot sit on a trial for the exact same charge twice. That is why some times it is manslaughter not murder, or assault not assault with a deadly weapon. If you were found innocent of manslaughter then proclaimed “I did it”. They would then charge you with murder and that trial could proceed.
You cannot be tried for the same crime twice, therefore you are protected
You cannot be tried for the same crime twice. However if you murder someone there are a zillion lesser included offenses that you could be tried for as long as you were not charged with them. IANAL but a friend of mine in the JAG back in the service told all about how the prosecutor would think of every possible charge they could bring and be sure to NOT use all of them at the court martial.
The answer actually is it depends on whether they can use that knowledge to get you on a different crime. Like let’s say you kidnap, imprison, torture, and kill someone. They fail to get you for murder, but if they didn’t bring the other aspects to trial then they can get you for those other things. And also if you testified in your own defense, they can get you for perjury. And now guaranteed, the victim’s family can sue you into oblivion as civil court is separate from criminal court, hence why OJ was acquitted of murder, but lost the civil case. although civil court is generally easier to win in since it only requires a preponderance of evidence rather than beyond a reasonable doubt.
Probably better to wait until after the civil trial.