__NOTOC__ Grafton v. United States, , was a United States Supreme Court case in which the court held that the Double Jeopardy Clause is not violated when the first conviction came from a court without jurisdiction to try the offense. Also, the separate sovereigns exception to the Double Jeopardy Clause does not apply in a U.S. territory because an insular area is not a sovereign state..
Background
After a soldier stationed in the Philippine Islands territory was court-martialed on a charge of manslaughter, he was acquitted. After that, he was indicted by the provincial court in Iloilo on murder charges. The soldier plead autrefois acquit to assert double jeopardy as a defense. The court rejected his plea. On appeal, that rejection was reversed and the defendant was released.
Opinion of the court
The Supreme Court issued an opinion on May 27, 1907.James M. Feeley, Double Jeopardy and Dual Sovereignty, 34 WASH. L. REV. & ST. B. J. 562 (Winter 1959).
Subsequent developments
References
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