McElrath v. Georgia
Issues
Does the Double Jeopardy Clause allow the retrial of an acquittal where the jury’s inconsistent verdicts on related offenses are deemed invalid under state law?
This case asks the Supreme Court to decide whether the Double Jeopardy Clause prevents a defendant from being retried on a count where he was acquitted by a jury’s verdict. Petitioner McElrath argues that the Double Jeopardy Clause prohibits defendants from being retried once they are acquitted. Petitioner also contends that the Georgia Supreme Court’s “repugnancy rule,” a rule that voids a jury’s verdicts if its findings on the record are extremely inconsistent, conflicts with the purpose and history of the Double Jeopardy Clause. In response, Respondent Georgia contends that state law, not the Double Jeopardy Clause, defines when a verdict is valid. It further asserts that Georgia’s “repugnancy rule” is consistent with the Constitution because repugnant verdicts and inconsistent verdicts are different, and the Supreme Court has never ruled on contradictory jury findings. The outcome of this case will affect the balance between judicial and jury power, as well as how far a federal court’s power can go in reversing a state court’s decision.
Questions as Framed for the Court by the Parties
Whether the double jeopardy clause of the Fifth Amendment prohibits a second prosecution for a crime of which a defendant was previously acquitted.
On July 16, 2012, 18-year-old Damian McElrath stabbed his adoptive mother, Diane, more than 50 times in a single attack. McElrath v. State (“McElrath I”) at 575. The attack started in the upstairs bedroom of their shared house and eventually ended at the front door, where Diane died. Id. McElrath then cleaned himself and wrote a note claiming that Diane told him that she was poisoning him.
The authors would like to thank Professor John H. Blume for his guidance and insights into this case.
Additional Resources
- Brandon Buskey, As a New Term Begins, Where Does the Supreme Court Stand on Criminal Justice?, ACLU (Sept. 28, 2023).
- Megan Butler, High court takes up double jeopardy case over ‘repugnant verdicts’ in Georgia, Courthouse News Service (June 30, 2023).