Also known as: multiplicitous · multiplicities · multiplicity doctrine · double jeopardy
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
2 senses
A defect in an indictment or information that charges the same offense in more than one count. The defect implicates the Fifth Amendment protection against double jeopardy by exposing the defendant to multiple punishments for a single offense.
A defect in an indictment or information that charges the same offense in more than one count. The defect implicates the Fifth Amendment protection against double jeopardy by exposing the defendant to multiple punishments for a single offense.
Mustafa Mahmoud is tried and convicted for directing illegal waste disposal. After jeopardy attaches, the state brings a new prosecution for conspiring to conceal the same dumping. The court dismisses the second charge because the conspiracy count is a lesser included offense arising from identical conduct.
The bringing of multiple separate actions to redress a single continuing or repeated wrong. Courts weigh the cost and burden of such repeated litigation when deciding whether damages are an adequate remedy or whether injunctive relief is warranted instead.
Miranda Morales operates an organic farm next to Marathon Logistics. Repeated chemical runoff contaminates her fields each season and threatens certification. She sues for nuisance and requests an injunction. The court grants relief because repeated suits for damages would impose high assessment costs and create a multiplicity of actions.
The bringing of multiple separate actions to redress a single continuing or repeated wrong. Courts weigh the cost and burden of such repeated litigation when deciding whether damages are an adequate remedy or whether injunctive relief is warranted instead.
Each sense below has its own examples, sources, and questions.
Marcus Mitchell is acquitted in federal court on drug charges. The state then indicts him for the identical conduct under state law. The court dismisses the state prosecution because the Double Jeopardy Clause, incorporated against the states, bars successive prosecutions for the same offense.
Maya Malik is convicted on multiple counts that the defense claims are multiplicitous. On appeal the court applies harmless-error analysis to determine whether the duplicative counts affected the verdict or sentence.
Mason McCarthy is tried twice in state court for the same robbery after a mistrial. He argues that the second trial violates the Fifth Amendment. The court applies the incorporated Double Jeopardy Clause and dismisses the retrial.
Miles Montgomery faces trial before a judge who received substantial campaign contributions from the victim's family. He moves to recuse on due-process grounds. The court grants the motion because the contributions create an unconstitutional probability of bias that implicates fundamental fairness.
Multiplicity occurs when the same offense is charged in more than one count. Duplicity occurs when two or more distinct offenses are joined in a single count. The remedy for multiplicity is usually to require the government to elect which count to proceed on and to dismiss the others.
Multiplicity violates double jeopardy when the multiple counts punish the defendant more than once for the same offense. Courts apply the Blockburger same-elements test to determine whether each count requires proof of a fact the other does not.
The court may order the government to elect which count to proceed on and dismiss the remaining counts. The defendant may also move to dismiss under Rule 12 before trial.
When harm is continuing or repeated, damages may be inadequate because the plaintiff would have to bring successive actions. The cost and burden of those repeated suits is a recognized factor that can make the legal remedy relatively inadequate and support injunctive relief.
Yes. The rule treats one aggregate communication as a single publication even if it reaches many jurisdictions. The plaintiff may bring only one action and must claim all damages in that action, avoiding multiple suits for the same defamatory statement.
…of acquittal could be overturned and a defendant retried would run afoul of the Sixth Amendment jury-trial guarantee and the Double Jeopardy Clause of the Fifth Amendment. In the federal system it also would be unconstitutional to prohibit a President from deciding, as an act of executive clemency, to reprieve one sentenced to…