Double jeopardy is a procedural defence that prevents an accused person from being tried again on the same charges and on the same facts, following a valid acquittal or conviction. As described by the U.S. Supreme Court in its unanimous decision concerning Ball v. United States 163 U.S. 662 (1896), one of its earliest cases dealing with double jeopardy, "the prohibition is not against being twice punished, but against being twice put in jeopardy; and the accused, whether convicted or acquitted, is equally put in jeopardy at the first trial."
A summary offence is a crime in some common law jurisdictions that can be proceeded against summarily, without the right to a jury trial and/or indictment.
Dietrich v The Queen is an important legal case decided in the High Court of Australia on 13 November 1992, stemming from an incident that took place on 17 December 1986. It concerned the nature of the right to a fair trial/and under what circumstances indigent defendants should be provided with legal aid by the state. The case determined that although there is no absolute right to have publicly-funded counsel, a judge should grant any request for an adjournment or stay in most circumstances in which an accused is unrepresented. It is an important case in Australian criminal law and in Australian constitutional law since it is one of many cases in which some members of the High Court have found implied human rights in the Australian Constitution.
Peter Norris Dupas is an Australian serial killer, currently serving three consecutive life sentences for murder. He has a substantial criminal history involving serious sexual and violent offences, with his violent criminal history spanning more than three decades, and with every release from prison has been known to commit further crimes against women with increasing levels of violence. His criminal signature is to remove the breasts of his female victims.
The criminal law of Canada is under the exclusive legislative jurisdiction of the Parliament of Canada. The power to enact criminal law is derived from section 91(27) of the Constitution Act, 1867. Most criminal laws have been codified in the Criminal Code, as well as the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act, Youth Criminal Justice Act and several other peripheral statutes.
In the criminal law of Australia, self-defence is a legal defence to a charge of causing injury or death in defence of the person or, to a limited extent, property, or a partial defence to murder if the degree of force used was excessive.
Joseph "Jihad Jack" Terrence Thomas is an Australian citizen whose conviction for receiving funds from Al-Qaeda was overturned on appeal. Thomas, commonly referred to in Australian media as "Jihad Jack", was acquitted of providing resources that would assist in a terrorist act before becoming the first Australian to be placed under a control order under the Australian Anti-Terrorism Act 2005.
Antonios Sajih Mokbel is an Australian criminal who has been convicted for a number of offences, most prominently commercial drug trafficking. He has spent most of his life in Melbourne, Australia. Mokbel was a fugitive until his recapture in Athens, Greece, on 5 June 2007. Operation Purana alleged that he is the mastermind behind the Melbourne amphetamines trade. He has been linked to Carl Williams as well as the killing of several victims of the Melbourne gangland war. He disappeared from Melbourne while on trial in March 2006, and he was arrested by Greek police in Athens, Greece, on 5 June 2007. Prior to his arrest, there was a $1 million bounty for information leading to his capture. According to Victoria Police, this reward still stands for the person who tipped off the police on his whereabouts.
Peter James Knight is an Australian anti-abortion activist who shot dead a security guard in a Melbourne abortion clinic. Following his arrest and a criminal trial, Knight is serving a life sentence with a minimum non-parole period of 23 years.
Frank de Stefano was mayor and councillor of Geelong, Victoria from 1983 to 1993. In 1988 De Stefano was awarded the Order of Australia medal for his services to migrant communities. De Stefano resigned from the Order on 2 October 2008. In 2003 he was imprisoned for ten years on twelve theft charges totalling A$8,606,101.47.
R v Thomas was an Australian court case decided in the Victorian Court of Appeal on 18 August 2006. It concerned the conviction in February 2006 of Joseph Thomas on terrorism-related charges, specifically receiving funds from Al Qaeda. The appeal revolved around the admissibility of a confession Thomas made during an interrogation in Pakistan in 2003. The court found that the evidence, which was crucial to Thomas' convictions, was inadmissible because it had not been given voluntarily. The court accordingly quashed his convictions, but after further hearings ordered on 20 December 2006 that he be retried rather than acquitted.
Robert Richter QC is an Australian barrister, based in Melbourne, who has handled of a number of high-profile cases including defendants unpopular in public opinion. He is an Adjunct Professor at Victoria University. He is a critic of human rights violations and advocates for the rule of law.
John David Phillips QC is an Australian lawyer and judge who served on the Supreme Court of Victoria from 1990 to 2004.
The Double Jeopardy Clause of the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution provides: "[N]or shall any person be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb..." The four essential protections included are prohibitions against, for the same offense:
Keith William Allan was an Australian solicitor, murdered in a contract killing. He was educated at Northcote High School and the University of Melbourne, where he completed the degree Bachelor of Laws. He practiced as a solicitor at Avondale Heights, a western suburb of Melbourne located in the City of Moonee Valley. He was a cousin of Jacinta Allan, a Minister in the Victorian state governments of Steve Bracks, John Brumby and Daniel Andrews. He was also a cousin of former test cricketer Graham Yallop and former Australian rules footballers Ken Turner (Collingwood), Jamie Turner (Collingwood) and Max Oppy (Richmond).
Lieutenant Colonel Justice John Harris Byrne, was the Senior Judge Administrator of the Supreme Court of Queensland. Having been a judge of that court since 1989, he was one of the court’s most experienced judges. He was also Chair of the National Judicial College of Australia, a body which provides programs and professional development resources to judicial officers in Australia.
R v Tang is a landmark Australian judgment of the High Court. The matter related to Wei Tang, the operator of a Melbourne brothel, convicted for slavery. The case was the first criminal conviction for a slavery offence in Australia and was significant for establishing the modern legal definition of slavery and has been described as "the most crucial test of the effectiveness of our criminal laws against … slavery ever to come before an Australian court."
Corryn Veronica Ann Rayney, née Da Silva, migrated to Australia with her Indian family in 1973 as refugees from Idi Amin's Uganda. Her death occurred on or about 7 August 2007, her body being discovered a week later in a clandestine grave in Kings Park, Perth, with no clearly established cause of death. Her husband Lloyd Rayney, a prominent barrister specialising in criminal prosecution, was charged with her murder but found not guilty after a trial before a judge only. The acquittal was unanimously upheld by a court of appeal in August 2013. The state's police commissioner and attorney general declined to acknowledge documented procedural mistakes, and refused to instigate a fresh search for the killers, leading to calls for a federal investigation into the matter.
Elizabeth Fullerton is an Australian lawyer, specialising in criminal law, who has been a judge of the Supreme Court of New South Wales since February 2007.
