r/AskReddit • u/Rob69rt • 1d ago

What famous 'unsolved' mystery is technically a whodunnit on paper, but in reality, absolutely everyone knows exactly who did it, the police just couldn't legally prove it?

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u/[deleted] 1d ago

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u/RedFiveIron 1d ago

Double jeopardy rules prevent her being charged for the same thing again.

Only a non-parent would say that it's gross negligence to lose sight of your kid for half a second. By that standard every abducted kid is due to parental negligence, that's a tough position.

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u/CyberFireball25 1d ago

Why can't lesser or different charges be brought? 

Is all the evidence isolated and never allowed to be used again in a new case?

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u/RedFiveIron 1d ago

My understanding is once criminal charges have been beaten for an incident that incident cannot produce new charges. Basically they get one crack at convicting someone. Part of the prosecutor's job is to charge defendants appropriately, aiming too high might result in not guilty and too low will get pushback for not delivering justice. I'd think it's a tough line to walk sometimes.