Stringfield

ORDER GRANTING PETITION FOR WRIT OF HABEAS CORPUS

On March 10, 2015, Petitioner Billy Stringfíeld II filed a Petition for writ of habeas corpus to prevent a successive prosecution arising from the death of his child. In 2005, Petitioner was tried for felony child abuse based upon injuries he inflicted on his child. The jury acquitted him of that charge. Years later the child died, allegedly from the same injuries originally inflicted by Petitioner. As a result, the State filed new charges in 2013 against Petitioner, this time for involuntary manslaughter and second degree implied malice murder. Petitioner claims this successive prosecution violates the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution as it places him twice in jeopardy and is precluded by the doctrine of collateral estoppel. Because the successive prosecution is based upon the same conduct and the same standard of culpability for which Petitioner was previously acquitted, the State is estopped from relit-igating the issue.

I.

FACTUAL BACKGROUND

Billy Stringfíeld III (“Billy”) was born on January 24, 2005, to Petitioner Billy Joe Stringfíeld II and his wife. RT 71-72. Billy initially had trouble breathing,…