Double Jeopardy and the Military: A Sensational Case In Point

England's relaxation of the rule against double jeopardy in limited circumstances has been in the international headlines recently because two men acquitted of a notorious killing in London 19 years ago have just been retried and convicted. Now the New Yorker brings us up-to-date on the case of a Tim Hennis, a former Army sergeant convicted on 1988 by a civil jury of the rape and murder of an Air Force wife and the murder of two of her three children, and sentenced to death. Three years later, the North Carolina Supreme Court, concluding that graphic photographic evidence had inflamed the jury, ordered a retrial.  On retrial, Hennis was acquitted on all counts. In 2005, previously untested sperm samples from the case showed that Hennis was "1.2 quadrillion times more likely to be from Hennis than from any other white person in North Carolina."  The constitution allows, and military regs permit, a person tried and acquitted in a civilian court to be tried by court martial, but it is rarely done, especially when the crime is a civilian crime. In 2010, Hennis was retried before a military panel, convicted, and sentenced to death. The New Yorker's original story on Hennis's case is not only a thriller, it's also a good primer on double jeopardy and military law.