Talk:Vacated judgment

Removed:

Vacated judgments usually act as dismissals in American criminal law, since the United States Constitution prohibits double jeopardy.

This is not quite correct. A vacated criminal conviction nullifies the conviction, but, the appeal court may direct the trial court to re-examine a particular issue in the case, and thereupon the conviction may be reinstated depending on the trial court's decision.

Under US law there are only two circumstances in which an appeal judgment vacating or reversing a conviction will prevent a retrial:

1. The appeal court decides the evidence as a whole was insufficient to convince a reasonable trier of fact that the defendant was guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. In that case the appeal decision is the functional equivalent of an acquittal.

2. The appeal court decides that the defendant's Sixth Amendment right to a speedy trial was violated. In that case, the trial itself, rather than the conviction, was the violation, and a retrial would not remedy the harm.

Should this be its own article?

I guess I don't think that this should be its own article. Or, perhaps it should be in the wiktionary.

I cleaned up the original language and form. I added one oft cited case discussing the effect of a vacated judgment.

Mmmbeer 17:19, 22 July 2005 (UTC)

Added that a trial court can vacate own judgment. Ellsworth 21:28, 5 September 2005 (UTC)

Death of convicted defendant after verdict but before sentencing.

In the article Trial of Kenneth Lay and Jeffrey Skilling (Enron trial) it states that Lay's conviction was vacated by the judge "since he died before he was sentenced and before all appeals could be exhausted."

Should this possibility be added into the article as well?

Are there other unusual cases where a judgement would be vacated?

--I (talk) 10:20, 22 April 2009 (UTC)