In United States v. Hicks, No. 19-590 (2d Cir. July 16, 2021), the defendant was tried for conspiracy to distribute marijuana, conspiracy to distribute cocaine and cocaine base, a 924(c) violation, and a RICO conspiracy. He was convicted of the marijuana conspiracy but acquitted of both the conspiracy to distribute cocaine and cocaine base and the 924(c) count. The jury hung on the RICO conspiracy count, which was retried. At the second trial, the government relied “on substantially the same evidence” as it presented in the first trial, including “the same evidence that it had used unsuccessfully in the first trial to convict Hicks of engaging in a cocaine conspiracy.” The defense objected to this on double jeopardy grounds, but the second jury was allowed to convict on this evidence.
The Second Circuit held there was no double jeopardy violation. First, it held that double jeopardy did not bar …