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Double Jeopardy (film)
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Double Jeopardy is a film made in 1999 starring Tommy Lee Jones and Ashley Judd, about a woman who is framed for the murder of her husband.
Plot
Elizabeth "Libby" Parsons (Judd) holds the belief, subsequently proven correct, that her husband, Nick Parsons (played by Bruce Greenwood), is still alive and had staged his own death for the purpose of falsely convicting her of murder. She serves several years in prison and then emerges bent on finding her husband and son, so as to take her revenge on the former and rescue the latter.
The movie explores the ramifications of a misinterpretation of the legal doctrine of
double jeopardy, which is a constitutional right in the
United States granted by the
Fifth Amendment. Travis Lehman (Lee Jones) advises Libby that she could kill her husband in the middle of
Times Square and the police would be powerless to do anything about it because of double jeopardy, because she had already been convicted once for his murder and served time. Both Libby and Lehman repeat this theory later in the movie in order to frighten Nick in the climactic confrontation scene, though it is doubtful that either of them believe it to be accurate legal advice, especially as Lehman is a former law professor.
The advice stated in the film is actually a misrepresentation of the legal doctrine. The homicide being committed would be an entirely different crime from the subject of the first trial — double jeopardy is based on whether the defendant is being retried for charges arising out of the same
transaction or occurrence. Therefore, it is possible for Judd's character to be tried and convicted a second time without encountering any constitutional infirmity. The "error" in the movie is made by a character in the story only, as the plot of the movie itself does not assume the truth of the erroneous interpretation of the principle of double jeopardy.
