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A question of U.S. government...
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@ 12-06-2006 20:14 DeathByMonkeys | 24,877 posts
| For my Government class I'm doing a theoretical case study in which I have to identify,within a specific case, whether someone's rights are being violated, and if so, how and why. Most of it is not a problem, but this one case is particularly challenging:
Donna Taylor is tried for murder by the state of Texas and is found innocent. The family of the victim then sues Donna in a civil court for $1,000,000 for wrongful death.
My first thought was 'Ridiculous. That will never even make it to trial...that's double jeopardy.'
Double jeopardy is defined as 'The act of putting a person through a second trial for an offense for which he or she has already been prosecuted or convicted.' Naturally, since they're trying to get her for killing the same person she was acquitted of murdering, it's double jeopardy. But then I thought about it.
The question directly says that the second time she is being accused of wrongful death. When I looked it up, wrongful death is defined as 'A death that is caused by the wrongful act or negligence of another and that serves as the basis for a civil action for damages on behalf of the decedent's heirs. This would mean that she is being tried for a DIFFERENT crime (negligent homicide vs. outright murder).
So, the question is: Does Donna Taylor go free because of the Fifth Amendment's protection against double jeopardy, or is she tried again in a civil court for the wrongful death of the same person she was accused of murdering? Is it even possible to sue her in civil court?
Please help if you know ANYTHING about U.S. law. I'm really stuck.  |
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 0  @ 12-06-2006 20:17 X_Trixi_X | 395 posts
| well i think that the family can't sue her because she was found to have not committed the crime so they are sueing her for something she didn't do | | 0 @ 12-06-2006 20:20 DeathByMonkeys | 24,877 posts
| but the problem is that the second time around she's being sued for wrongful death, which is a whole different ballgame from capital murder. Which has me confused as to whether it's really double jeopardy or not. | | 0 @ 12-06-2006 20:37 DeathByMonkeys | 24,877 posts
| Never mind. I called a lawyer and asked, it's not double jeopardy. Woot. | | 0 @ 12-06-2006 20:37 X_Trixi_X | 395 posts
| its not double jepordy but they still don't have a right to sue her because the court would see that she had been found innocent and throw the law suit out of court | | 0 @ 12-06-2006 20:44 DeathByMonkeys | 24,877 posts
| The fact that she was previously found innocent has nothing to do with it. It's an entirely new case, and since there's no issue of double jeopardy then she's eligible for trial. |
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