Even convictions do not result in double jeopardy if they are vacated. I don't do that much criminal law but have had one conviction reversed and remanded, and the guy was given the choice of a new trial or pleading guilty to time served, which is what he went for.
But if there is no reversal, and the first conviction stnads, then the issue with respect to a second conviction is whether there was any element of the first crime which was necessary to prove the second crime, so that there are multiple punishments for the same offense, e.g., simultaneous convictions for both simple rape and aggravated rape for the same act of rape.
" Citing United States v. Halper, 490 U.S. 435 (1989), Brame points out that "the Double Jeopardy Clause `protects against three distinct abuses: a second prosecution for the same offense after acquittal; a second prosecution for the same offense after conviction; and multiple punishments for the same offense.'"
Brame v. Commonwealth, 252 Va. 122, 126, 476 S.E.2d 177, ___ (1996) |
