Re:Why Hasn’t Sam Bankman-Fried Been Arrested Yet?
by dragonwriter on Friday December 02, 2022 @06:42PM
(#33838494)
> You the prosecutor only know of 3 of them right now. Why can’t you charge SBF for the 3 you have, convict them, and while SBF is in prison figure out the other 37?
If any of the 3 would be lesser included offenses of any of the 37, those of the 37 for which that would be true could not later be charged, because the application of the federal Constitutional prohibition against double jeopardy forecloses this.
For state charges, this is may be even more restrictive, as many states exclude not only conviction in the same or separate prosecutions for “nested” offenses, but also preclude separate prosecutions after a conviction for the same conduct, or in some jurisdictions even for distinct conduct that forms part of the same transaction.
> With programming, it’s commit early and commit often
Criminal justice is very much not programming, and even to the extent they are loosely analogous, initiating a criminal prosecution isn’t analogous to a commit.
EDIT: To make the reasoning more explicit, since even initiating such a prosecution impacts liberty interests, there a very significant reasons for rules against repeated add-on prosecution that states have, and there are even stronger reasons (because criminal penalties for greater offenses necessarily encompass any lesser included offenses) for the federal rule (also applicable to the states) preventing cumulative punishment for both a lesser included offense and an offense within which it is included.
If any of the 3 would be lesser included offenses of any of the 37, those of the 37 for which that would be true could not later be charged, because the application of the federal Constitutional prohibition against double jeopardy forecloses this.
For state charges, this is may be even more restrictive, as many states exclude not only conviction in the same or separate prosecutions for “nested” offenses, but also preclude separate prosecutions after a conviction for the same conduct, or in some jurisdictions even for distinct conduct that forms part of the same transaction.
> With programming, it’s commit early and commit often
Criminal justice is very much not programming, and even to the extent they are loosely analogous, initiating a criminal prosecution isn’t analogous to a commit.
EDIT: To make the reasoning more explicit, since even initiating such a prosecution impacts liberty interests, there a very significant reasons for rules against repeated add-on prosecution that states have, and there are even stronger reasons (because criminal penalties for greater offenses necessarily encompass any lesser included offenses) for the federal rule (also applicable to the states) preventing cumulative punishment for both a lesser included offense and an offense within which it is included.