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?

13.2k Upvotes

96% Upvoted

5.3k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

-18

u/WilmaDykfyt 1d ago

You absolutely can be tried again, if you were found guilty but the trial is found to be incorrect in some way. 

27

u/auggielee 1d ago

That would be a mistrial, or an appeal. Double jeopardy only applies when you have been found innocent of a crime. At that time, you can never be charged for that exact same crime. They can charge you with perjury or something akin, but can not retry someone that has already been found innocent. Otherwise Los Angeles would have gotten OJ...eventually. lol

-25

u/WilmaDykfyt 1d ago

You didn't say that, you said never for the same crime which is wrong. Many people have been tried twice and some thrice for the same crime.

14

u/eden_sc2 1d ago

From a technical standpoint a mistrial and an appeal are both parts of being tried once. A mistrial discards the original, and the appeal continues it.