The Supreme Court has granted certiorari in the following cases involving issues of interest to capital habeas litigators:
McElrath v. Georgia, 22-721 (cert. petition granted June 30, 2023)
(case below: 880 S.E.2d 518 (Ga. 2022))
Question presented:
The Georgia Supreme Court held that a jury’s verdict of acquittal on one criminal charge and its verdict of guilty on a different criminal charge arising from the same facts were logically and legally impossible to reconcile. It called the verdicts “repugnant,” vacated both of them, and subsequently held that the defendant could be prosecuted a second time on both charges. Does the Double Jeopardy Clause of the Fifth Amendment prohibit a second prosecution for a crime of which a defendant was previously acquitted?
Click here to view the certiorari petition.