In Chapter 2 you learned about the protections found in the constitution and how they are applied in Criminal procedure. Taking what you learned from reading the chapter and the required resources please take some time to research the cases mentioned below answer the following:
OJ Simpson was acquitted in state court of murder charges and then was found liable for those very same deaths in a civil suit.
What do you think of the “dual” trials involving OJ, one criminal, one civil, and the different “verdicts” that came out of each?
In 1991, in a racially charged riot in Brooklyn, NY, Lemrick Nelson stabbed and killed Yankel Rosenbaum, a visiting scholar from Australia. Mr. Nelson was acquitted of murder charges in state court but was then indicted on federal civil rights violations (he violated Mr. Rosenbaum’s civil rights by taking his life because of Mr. Rosenbaum’s religion). Mr. Nelson was eventually convicted of a lesser crime.
What do you think of these dual criminal prosecutions in state and federal courts?
How do you compare your reaction to the exact same dual prosecutions of the police officers who beat Rodney King?
What rule of Right or Criminal Procedure applies here?