Man Sentenced To Death in Triple Jeopardy

Double jeopardy is a legal concept that bars a defendant from being tried twice for the same crime. This concept is so important that it's enshrined in the Fifth Amendment to the US Constitution.

But apparently, there is a way around double jeopardy - here's the story of a triple murder and triple jeopardy:

Master Sgt. Timothy Hennis was convicted once before of killing Kathryn Eastburn and her daughters, Kara, 5, and Erin, 3. He even spent several years on death row awaiting execution after his 1986 conviction, but he gained his freedom after an appeal and acquittal at a second trial in 1989.

After that, he continued his career in the Army.

Big mistake.

Years later, the move allowed prosecutors to put him on trial yet again -- and a U.S. Army court martial jury today unanimously found Hennis guilty of murdering Eastburn and her daughters nearly 25 years ago.

Hennis was found guilty and has now been sentenced to death for the second time.

Link (Photo: Jim R. Bounds/AP)


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Even if court martials weren't a separate trial, this is still only double jeopardy. An appeal isn't being charged twice for the same crime, it is more of an amendment to the current trial. So, this would not qualify as a triple jeopardy.
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Military Court Martials are completely seperate from civilian courts. For example, a military person could get convicted in a civilian court for drug trafficking, serve their entire sentence, get out, be retried and convicted by a court martial, and serve an entire sentence in military prison.
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