State Ex Rel. Watson v. Ferguson

Miller, Justice:

We granted this original writ of prohibition to consider again the scope of our double jeopardy clause1 in light of our decisions in State ex rel. Johnson v. Hamilton, 164 W. Va. 682, 266 S.E.2d 125 (1980), and State ex rel. Dowdy v. Robinson, 163 W. Va. 154, 257 S.E.2d 167 (1979). In Syllabus Point 1 of both cases, we concluded that a defendant was entitled to assert a claim of double jeopardy under both the “same evidence” and the “same transaction” tests, and “whichever test affords the defendant the greater protection must be applied.”2

In the present case, the defendant…