Puerto Rico v. Sanchez Valle
United States Supreme Court
136 S. Ct. 1863 (2016)
Relevant factsFree
Sanchez Valle and Gomez Vazquez (defendants) each sold a gun to an undercover officer in Puerto Rico and were charged with weapons offenses by both the federal government and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico; both pleaded guilty to the federal charges, and the question of whether Puerto Rico could still separately prosecute them for the same conduct reached the U.S. Supreme Court.
IssueFree
Whether two independent sovereigns may successively prosecute a single defendant for the same criminal conduct when the prosecutorial powers of both jurisdictions derive from the same ultimate source.