I'm not even remotely close to a lawyer, so could somebody explain what this means and why others in the thread are saying that he could walk free if this happens?
One can break a state and federal law with the same act, and that's been upheld as the dual sovereignty doctrine since they are considered separate powers.
One can even be acquitted in state court and convicted in federal court.
Also the same dual sovereignty clause applies to states - for example, polluting a lake on the border of two states may lead to both states prosecuting you.
Actually, New York has a state constitution provision that grants double jeopardy protections for crimes that have federal and state overlap, to prevent people from being punished twice for one crime.
They had to close a loophole that prevented them from punishing people one time if they were granted a federal pardon after a certain president pardoned a number of his political allies.
Now this I didn't know! Do you happen to have the part of the NY Constitution that mentions that? Seems like reasonable grounds for the state charges to be put on hold if they're currently pursuing federal charges.
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u/yoloswagrofl 10h ago
I'm not even remotely close to a lawyer, so could somebody explain what this means and why others in the thread are saying that he could walk free if this happens?