United States v. Bryson Jose Roberto A. Miguel

Appellants Bryson Jose and Roberto A. Miguel appeal the district court’s denial of their joint motion to dismiss their indictments on double jeopardy grounds. As is relevant here, appellants were convicted of felony murder and three predicate felonies. The counts were charged under one indictment and prosecuted together in one trial. On direct appeal, this court reversed appellants’ felony murder convictions, reversed Miguel’s conviction for use of a firearm during a crime of violence, affirmed all other convictions and remanded to the district court for further proceedings. On remand, Miguel moved for dismissal of the indictment on double jeopardy grounds, claiming that his final convictions on the lesser included predicate felonies barred retrial of the greater felony murder charge. Jose joined in the motion. We affirm the district court’s denial of appellants’ motion to dismiss the indictments.

This case raises a purely legal question about the reach and proper application of the Double Jeopardy Clause: Does the reversal of a conviction on a greater offense, coupled with a final conviction on a lesser included offense, preclude retrial of the greater offense when the offenses…