Bravo-Fernandez v. United States
Bravo-Fernandez v. United States | |
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Argued October 4, 2016 Decided November 29, 2016 | |
Full case name | Juan Bravo-Fernandez and Hector Martinez-Maldonado, Petitioners v. United States |
Docket no. | 15–537 |
Citations | 580 U.S. ___ (more) 137 S. Ct. 352; 196 L. Ed. 2d 242 |
Case history | |
Prior | United States v. Bravo-Fernandez, 790 F.3d 41 (1st Cir. 2015); cert. granted, 136 S. Ct. 1491 (2016). |
Holding | |
The issue-preclusion component of the Double Jeopardy Clause does not bar the Government from retrying defendants, like petitioners, after a jury has returned irreconcilably inconsistent verdicts of conviction and acquittal and the convictions are later vacated for legal error unrelated to the inconsistency. | |
Court membership | |
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Case opinions | |
Majority | Ginsburg, joined by unanimous |
Concurrence | Thomas |
Laws applied | |
U.S. Const. amend. V |
Bravo-Fernandez v. United States, 580 U.S. ___ (2016), was a case in which the Supreme Court of the United States clarified the application of the Fifth Amendment's Double Jeopardy Clause to cases in which a jury returns irreconcilable verdicts that convict a defendant on one count and acquit a defendant on another count when both counts rely upon the same ultimate fact.[1]
In a unanimous opinion written by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the Court held that the government may re-try criminal defendants after a jury returns irreconcilable verdicts when the conviction is later vacated because of a procedural error that is unrelated to the inconsistency.[2] Justice Clarence Thomas filed a concurring opinion, stating that although he joins with the majority, the Court should reconsider the two cases that Ginsburg relied on in her argument, Ashe v. Swenson and .[3]
See also[]
- List of United States Supreme Court cases
- List of United States Supreme Court cases, volume 580
- List of United States Supreme Court cases by the Roberts Court
References[]
External links[]
- Text of Bravo-Fernandez v. United States, 580 U.S. ___ (2016) is available from: Justia Oyez (oral argument audio) Supreme Court (slip opinion)
- United States Supreme Court cases
- United States Supreme Court cases of the Roberts Court
- 2016 in United States case law