Quote:
Originally Posted by DJ's left nut
You don't convict twice for a lesser included offense.
If an offense requires the occurrence of A, B, C and D; you cannot convict of both that crime, and another crime that requires the occurrence of A, B and C. It's part of the double jeopardy prohibitions.
You can charge for both (it's a common tactic for negotiating plea deal; armed criminal action within armed robbery, for example), but you can't convict for both.
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Thanks. I'm not sure I understand, though, so maybe I can get an example.
Person A is driving drunk and gets arrested because he's weaving on the road.
Person B is driving drunk and gets arrested because he hit another car and killed the driver of that car.
Assume that neither has a previous criminal record and everything else was the same other than the fact that Person B crashed.
In this fictional location, the penalty for driving drunk is 1 to 3 years in prison. The penalty for manslaughter or murder or whatever killed the innocent driver is 20 years.
If Person A gets 1 year in prison for DUI, should Person B get the same, and then another 10 years for manslaughter or whatever? Or is it reasonable that Person B would get 3 years plus the 10 years because his drunk driving had a worse outcome?