Authorities Sunday arrested 57-year-old Vance Boelter following the largest manhunt in state history. He's charged in the targeted fatal shootings of Minnesota House DFL leader Melissa Hortman and her spouse, and the shooting of state Sen. John Hoffman and his spouse.
You can absolutely under the current law be tried by both the state and federal government for the same action if that action violates both state and federal law. See the 2019 case Gamble v. United States for the most recent ruling on it, but the idea is that the state and federal government are “separate sovereigns” and so it doesn’t violate the double jeopardy clause.
In practice doing so is unusual and DoJ guidelines discourage federal prosecutors from pursuing cases that are prosecuted by the states, but there is no law preventing them from doing so.
Ahh, thanks for the citation! That’s interesting. I thought I’d heard otherwise in some case where there was debate over whether the federal or state government would try the case recently. Maybe it was just to avoid going at the same time then and who would go first.
You can absolutely under the current law be tried by both the state and federal government for the same action if that action violates both state and federal law. See the 2019 case Gamble v. United States for the most recent ruling on it, but the idea is that the state and federal government are “separate sovereigns” and so it doesn’t violate the double jeopardy clause.
In practice doing so is unusual and DoJ guidelines discourage federal prosecutors from pursuing cases that are prosecuted by the states, but there is no law preventing them from doing so.
Ahh, thanks for the citation! That’s interesting. I thought I’d heard otherwise in some case where there was debate over whether the federal or state government would try the case recently. Maybe it was just to avoid going at the same time then and who would go first.