MovieChat Forums > Fracture (2007) Discussion > Double-jeopardy DOES apply

Double-jeopardy DOES apply

posted 15 years ago by Reachthesilence
92 replies | jump to latest

Hi guys,
I am studying Law (in Europe though, but double jeopardy works the same).

You can not be tried twice for the same "set of facts".
For example, if you killed somebody, and the prosecution goes for manslaughter, if you're acquitted, the prosecution can not retry you for Murder 2, even if they have new evidence.

The result actually doesn't matter. The fact that the wife ended up dead or not doesn't change the facts.

Therefore, you can not retry him for the same crime, even if you have new evidence. That is as simple as that.

And even if you'd admit there's no double jeopardy, there is still no murder, as she didn't die because of him shooting the gun. The whole story around the guns and all can not be tried again, even with new evidence!

His behavior was an attempted murder, that's it.

[–] gottaluvafriend 8 years ago

This is a favorite movie of mine, and I've done my share of pondering the ending. My first problem with it was that I couldn't see how he could be charged with murder if he'd been granted the legal power to "pull the plug" on his wife, but I supposed there could be legal loopholes allowing for that.

If what you're saying is true, that a "set of facts" carries Double Jeopardy weight, then in order to be tried for murder the antagonist would have had to have broken the law when he unplugged his wife, which would create a second set of facts. If that's the case, you are correct in that the bullet and the gun would be irrelevant, as well as his voluntary confession to having shot his wife, which we must assume was heard by the police outside the house via a wire worn by the protagonist, or that he was recording it for later, which we would be being led to believe would seal the protagonist's fate.