Ashe v. Swenson
United States Supreme Court
397 U.S. 436 (1970)
Relevant factsFree
Ashe (defendant) was acquitted of robbing one poker player, Knight, in a group robbery where the only genuinely contested issue was whether Ashe was one of the robbers (the robbery itself and Knight's victim status were undisputed); six weeks later, the state tried him again for robbing a different player from the same incident, strengthening its identification evidence based on lessons from the first trial.
IssueFree
Whether the Double Jeopardy Clause prohibits the prosecution from relitigating an issue of ultimate fact in a second criminal prosecution when that issue was resolved in the defendant's favor by an acquittal at the first trial.