Grafton v. United States

Grafton v. United States
Supreme Court of the United States
Decided May 27, 1907
Full case name	Grafton v. United States
Citations	206 U.S. 333 ( more )
Holding
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.
Court membership
Chief Justice Melville Fuller Associate Justices John M. Harlan  · David J. Brewer Edward D. White  · Rufus W. Peckham Joseph McKenna  · Oliver W. Holmes Jr. William R. Day  · William H. Moody

Grafton v. United States, 206 U.S. 333(1907), 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. ^[1]

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. ^[1]

Opinion of the court

The Supreme Court issued an opinion on May 27, 1907. ^{[1] [2]}

References

1. Grafton v. United States, 206 U.S. 333 (1907).
2. James M. Feeley, Double Jeopardy and Dual Sovereignty, 34 WASH. L. REV. & ST. B. J. 562 (Winter 1959).

External links

• Text of Grafton v. United States, 206 U.S. 333(1907) is available from: Cornell Findlaw Justia

This article incorporates written opinion of a United States federal court. As a work of the U.S. federal government, the text is in the public domain .