Scott v. State

Both the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States and the common law of Maryland provide for a prohibition on double jeopardy. A plea of autrefois acquit is a common-law plea in which a defendant alleges to have been previously acquitted of an offense, and, as a result, that he or she may not be tried again. See Scriber v. State, 437 Md. 399, 403, 86 A.3d 1260, 1262 (2014). 1 Under a valid plea of autrefois acquit, the State cannot reprosecute a defendant after an acquittal. The doctrine of collateral estoppel is a common-law doctrine that, in a criminal case, prohibits “the…