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2nd Trial For Same Conduct Violates Double Jeopardy Clause

1889

In In re Nielson, the U.S. Supreme Court rules the double jeopardy clause is violated by the attempted prosecution of a defendant for adultery when he already had been convicted of unlawful cohabitation. Because the cohabitation conviction meant the defendant had been found guilty of living with a woman to whom he was not married, the adultery offense was included in that conviction and could not be the basis for a new criminal charge. The defendant, a Mormon, was charged with these crimes because he lived with multiple wives.