Burks v. United States
United States Supreme Court
437 U.S. 1 (1978)
Burks (defendant) was convicted of bank robbery after the trial court refused to grant a judgment of acquittal despite his insanity defense, and after conviction the court of appeals found Burks had made a prima facie insanity showing that the government failed to rebut beyond a reasonable doubt with sufficient evidence; the appellate court reversed and remanded for the district court to decide between directing an acquittal or ordering a retrial. The Supreme Court granted certiorari to decide whether retrying Burks would violate the Double Jeopardy Clause.
Whether the Double Jeopardy Clause prohibits retrying a defendant whose conviction was reversed on appeal specifically because the government's evidence was legally insufficient to support a guilty verdict.