Double Jeopardy and the Fraudulently-Obtained Acquittal

On December 8, 1993, a Cook County, Illinois, grand jury returned an indictment' charging Harry Aleman, a reputed crime syndicate assassin, with the murder of William Logan, a truck dispatcher and Teamsters union steward, who was shot to death outside his home in Chicago in 1972. The reprosecution of Harry Aleman raises an interesting question concerning the effect under the Double Jeopardy Clause of an acquittal resulting from fraud. This article examines that question and concludes that the safeguard against double jeopardy prevents the government from retrying an individual following her acquittal for the same offense, even though that acquittal may have been obtained through bribery, blackmail, intimidation, or the like.