DOUBLE JEOPARDY
The double jeopardy clause in The Fifth Amendment was designed to protect an individual
from being tried, and possibly convicted for the same offense multiple times. The idea
behind this prohibition was to prevent the State from using its vast resources and power to
continuously persecute a person for an alleged crime until found “guilty”—which was a
very common practice in Great Britain during that time period.
In the movie “Double Jeopardy,” the director, Bruce Beresford, uses this clause as a basis
for the events which take place. The main character, Libby, is tried and convicted for the
murder of her husband. When in prison, she finds he had framed her for his death and was
very much alive. Out on parole after six years, Libby seeks revenge and sets out to kill her
husband. Although under different circumstances, she ends up killing him and gets to
commit the crime which she had paid for. Since you can’t kill a person more than once—
Libby gets to go home and reunite with her family.
Though hard to believe, the concept of this movie is similar to an event which took place
less than two years ago. In 2013 Sharone Sylvester Brown got away with the murder of
Sherry Whitacre (his girlfriend)—the article by Tanya Eisner from The Dallas Morning
News was adequately titled “Dallas man arrested in murder case goes free because of
double jeopardy.” Brown was arrested after physically abusing Whitaker. She died seven
