Vadell Johnson v. State of Mississippi

MAXWELL, J.,

for the Court:

¶1. The Double Jeopardy Clause of the Fifth Amendment “protects against a second prosecution for the same offense after acquittal.” 1 It also “protects the accused from attempts to relitigate the facts underlying a prior acquittal.” 2 In his petition for a writ of habeas corpus, Vadell Johnson invoked this latter protection. He argued he could not be prosecuted for possession of a weapon by a convicted felon without relitigating the same facts of his earlier misdemeanor stalking convictions.

¶ 2. But missing from Johnson’s argument is a “prior acquittal,” in which the…