The U.S. Supreme Court ruled today in a 6-3 decision that former Enron Broadband Services executive F. Scott Yeager cannot be retried for insider trading because such a retrial would violate the Double Jeopardy Clause of the Constitution.
As previously discussed here, Yeager, was was acquitted of conspiracy, securities fraud and wire fraud charges after a 13-week trial in 2005, but the jury deadlocked on charges of insider trading and money laundering. Prosecutors had sought a second trial on those deadlocked counts.
As summarized by SCOUTUSBlog, the Court held that “if a jury finds an individual not guilty on some counts, but can’t agree on the others, prosecutors may not try that individual again on the ‘hung’ counts if they had a common element with those on which the jury acquitted.”
