McElrath v. Georgia
Supreme Court of the United States
Argued November 28, 2023
Full case nameDamian McElrath v. Georgia
Docket no.22-721
ArgumentOral argument
Questions presented
Whether the double jeopardy clause of the Fifth Amendment prohibits a second prosecution for a crime of which a defendant was previously acquitted.
Court membership
Chief Justice
John Roberts
Associate Justices
Clarence Thomas · Samuel Alito
Sonia Sotomayor · Elena Kagan
Neil Gorsuch · Brett Kavanaugh
Amy Coney Barrett · Ketanji Brown Jackson

McElrath v. Georgia (Docket 22-721) is a pending United States Supreme Court case related to the Double Jeopardy Clause of the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution.[1]

Background

On December 11, 2017, Damian McElrath was found guilty but mentally ill by a jury on the charge of felony murder and aggravated assault, but not guilty on the charge of malice murder due to insanity. Both charges are related to one episode where McElrath stabbed his adoptive mother, Diane McElrath, 50 times until her death.

Due to the fact that he was found to be not guilty due to insanity in one charge but guilty as to another over the same episode, McElrath appealed the verdict to the Supreme Court of Georgia, calling the jury verdict "repugnant". The Georgia Supreme Court agreed with McElrath's arguments and vacated the trial court's verdict and remanded the case for further proceedings on both charges.

Back at the trial court, McElrath filed a plea arguing that the court should not hear the charge for malice murder again due to the fact that he was found not guilty in the initial trial and should not be tried twice under the Double Jeopardy Clause of the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution. The trial court disagreed and denied his plea. Seeking review again, McElrath appealed to the Georgia Supreme Court over the trial court hearing his malice murder charge despite the initial acquittal, and argued that the Supreme Court should have reversed the verdict at the start and not remanded the charge of malice murder. The Georgia Supreme Court, however, unanimously affirmed the trial court's ruling, stating that since they had ruled that the initial verdict was "repugnant", the verdict in its entirety should be "void" and is "useless".

The petitioner then appealed to the Supreme Court of the United States to review the lower court's decision.

Supreme Court

A Petition for a Writ of Certiorari was filed on behalf of McElrath on January 31, 2023.[2] The Supreme Court of the United States agreed to hear this case in their last order list of the October 2022 term on June 30, 2023.[3]

References

  1. ↑ "McElrath v. Georgia". SCOTUSblog. Retrieved June 30, 2023.
  2. ↑ "DAMIAN MCELRATH, PETITIONER V. GEORGIA; ON PETITION FOR WRIT OF CERTIORARI TO THE SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF GEORGIA" (PDF). Retrieved June 30, 2023.
  3. ↑ "The last grants of October Term 2022?". SCOTUSblog. June 29, 2023. Retrieved June 30, 2023.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.