Commonwealth v. Meehan

As pointed out in Commonwealth v. Levia, 385 Mass. 345, 347 (1982), the double jeopardy clause of the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution prohibits punishing a person twice for the same offense, but that clause imposes few limitations on the legislative power to define offenses. The decisive question, therefore, is whether the Legislature intended that each death constitute a separate offense where a person, by reason of operation of a motor vehicle in violation of G. L. c. 90, § 24G, causes the death of more than one person in a single automobile accident. General Laws c. 90, §…