United States Supreme Court

In a case in which defendants were indicted by Puerto Rican prosecutors for illegally selling firearms in violation of the Puerto Rico Arms Act of 2000, and while those charges were pending, federal grand juries also indicted them, based on the same transactions, for violations of analogous U.S. gun trafficking statutes, the Supreme Court of Puerto Rico's decision upholding the trial court's dismissal of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico charges on double jeopardy grounds, over the prosecutors' arguments that Puerto Rico and the U.S. are separate sovereigns for double jeopardy purposes, is affirmed where the Double Jeopardy Clause bars Puerto Rico and the U.S. from successively prosecuting a single person for the same conduct under equivalent criminal laws.

Appellate Information

• Published 2016/06/09

Judges

• KAGAN

Court

• United States Supreme Court

Counsel