Double Jeopardy laws in Queensland are being triggered for the very first time, thanks to an arrest in relation to a cold case murder from 1987.
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The laws, for those of you either familiar with legal mumbo jumbo or who have watched the entertaining-as-hell 1999 neo noir film starring Ashley Judd and Tommy Lee Jones, prevent people from being tried twice for the same offence.
In this case, Queensland Police today arrested a man over a 1987 murder who had previously been tried and acquitted of the crime. Due to the nature of the laws, police are unable to release his identity, and are unable to name the case involved.
The Double Jeopardy legislation in Queensland – which was amended in 2014 – prevents people from simply being re-tried over and over and over again. However, it does allow for cases to return to trial in the event that compelling evidence emerges that was not available to the Department of Public Prosecutions at the time of the original court hearings.
That evidence includes things like new eye-witnesses, new confessions, medical-based evidence like DNA analysis, and beyond.
Double Jeopardy laws were updated Australia-wide in 2007 to leave the door open for cases to be re-tried in extraordinary circumstances. In Queensland however that only applied to crimes committed from 2007 onwards. The 2014 amendments to state legislation extended the Double Jeopardy powers retroactively, meaning they applied to all crimes regardless of when they were committed.
In this case – the first time the laws have been used since they were implemented – police must now apply to the courts for a re-trial to be granted.
There’s not much else we can legally report on the issue at this time, but it doesn’t change the fact that it’s all interesting as heck.
The case continues.
