Which of the following is an exception to double jeopardy?

Which of the following is an exception to double jeopardy?

• A. Granting a convicted person a new trial
• B. Recharging the same offense in a different jurisdiction
• C. Plea bargaining after conviction
• D. Retry after acquittal

Answer: (A)

Double jeopardy protects against being tried twice for the same offense by the same government after jeopardy has attached. But there is an exception: if a person already convicted is granted a new trial—typically on appeal or for post-conviction relief due to trial errors, newly discovered evidence, or constitutional issues—the case can be retried. That retrial occurs without violating the protection because the initial jeopardy was not final in the sense of a final, unchangeable judgment; the conviction was set aside and remanded for further adjudication. The other options don’t fit this exception: charging the same offense in a different jurisdiction can involve a separate sovereignty and isn’t the intra-case retrial exception; plea bargaining after conviction ends the case without a new trial; and retrying someone after acquittal is precisely what double jeopardy forbids.

Double jeopardy protects against being tried twice for the same offense by the same government after jeopardy has attached. But there is an exception: if a person already convicted is granted a new trial—typically on appeal or for post-conviction relief due to trial errors, newly discovered evidence, or constitutional issues—the case can be retried. That retrial occurs without violating the protection because the initial jeopardy was not final in the sense of a final, unchangeable judgment; the conviction was set aside and remanded for further adjudication. The other options don’t fit this exception: charging the same offense in a different jurisdiction can involve a separate sovereignty and isn’t the intra-case retrial exception; plea bargaining after conviction ends the case without a new trial; and retrying someone after acquittal is precisely what double jeopardy forbids.