Does Manafort have a double jeopardy defense in New York courts?

[Peter1469]

Does Manafort have a double jeopardy defense in New York courts?

Probably not under federal law. But under NY law he very well might.

Minutes after Judge Amy Berman Jackson of the U.S. District Court of the District of Columbia imposed a 60-month sentence Wednesday on Donald Trump’s onetime campaign manager Paul Manafort, the Manhattan district attorney’s office added to Manafort’s woes by indicting him in state court.

The state indictment charges 16 counts, including mortgage fraud, falsifying business records and a scheme to defraud.



Manafort may be relying on the president to issue a pardon on the federal conviction. If he is, he should refocus his energies, forget about Trump, and instead rely on his lawyers to challenge the new state indictment based on “double jeopardy” grounds. Unlike the federal pardon, the jeopardy challenge is one he at least has some control over.


The Double Jeopardy Clause of the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution states that, “nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb.” This federal protection is made applicable to the states, including New York, by virtue of incorporation through the Fourteenth Amendment. The Double Jeopardy Clause contains two separate prohibitions: no second prosecution for the same offense after a defendant has been either convicted or acquitted; and no multiple punishments for the same offense.

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Double jeopardy is one of those protections, however, where the exceptions swallow the rule.


For example, under the “dual sovereignty” doctrine, successive state and federal prosecutions for the same conduct may not be barred by the Constitution's double jeopardy clause. Because the state and federal governments are treated as different “kingdoms,” the constitutional Blockburger “same-elements” test does not apply.


Manafort’s best chance against these state charges flows not from his federal rights, but rather his state rights.


The New York State Constitution has its own double jeopardy clause. But in New York, protection against double jeopardy is statutory as well as constitutional.

[Captdon]

SCOTUS has a case before it to decide on the double jeopardy rule.

[MisterVeritis]

The people are sovereign. We give up some sovereignty to the states and to the federal government. Double jeopardy is a wrong. It is war waged against the people.

It is time to completely end it. One crime. One trial.