This post covers what double jeopardy means and what it looks like when a person is arrested in a police sting operation. Both topics come up often for people facing criminal charges, and the answers below come directly from Greg McCollum.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Double Jeopardy?
Double jeopardy is the concept that you can only be tried for a crime one time. In other words, if a person is charged with a particular crime, and they go to court, and they have a trial, and the jury finds them not guilty, then the state cannot assemble another trial and take another shot at them and try them again for the same offense and the same crime.
I was arrested in a police sting operation. Isn’t this entrapment?
If a person’s arrested in a police sting, it certainly feels like entrapment. A police sting is a situation where no crime is actually committed, or, at least, carried out.
For example: if the police are doing a drug sting and they agree to sell a kilo of cocaine to someone for $20,000, the person shows up with $20,000 and is arrested, the police never had any cocaine to sell them, the $20,000 then is confiscated by the police and usually kept, and then the person is charged with trafficking in drugs. It also happens in prostitution stings and other types of instances.
Facing a criminal charge in South Carolina is stressful, and the details of each case matter. Greg McCollum has 30 years of experience in criminal defense and is a former prosecutor, which gives him a view of criminal cases from both sides of the courtroom. The Greg McCollum Complete Legal Defense Team can review the circumstances of a charge and explain the options that may be available.
If you have questions about double jeopardy or a police sting arrest, call the Greg McCollum Complete Legal Defense Team at (843) 626-5480. Consultations are confidential.