{"ID":63408,"name":"Denezpi v. United States","href":"https:\/\/api.oyez.org\/cases\/2021\/20-7622","view_count":0,"docket_number":"20-7622","additional_docket_numbers":null,"manner_of_jurisdiction":"Writ of \u003Ci\u003Ecertiorari\u003C\/i\u003E","first_party":"Merle Denezpi","second_party":"United States of America","timeline":[{"event":"Granted","dates":[1634533200],"href":"https:\/\/api.oyez.org\/case_timeline\/case_timeline\/54992"},{"event":"Argued","dates":[1645509600],"href":"https:\/\/api.oyez.org\/case_timeline\/case_timeline\/55029"},{"event":"Decided","dates":[1655096400],"href":"https:\/\/api.oyez.org\/case_timeline\/case_timeline\/55111"}],"lower_court":{"ID":14,"name":"United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit","href":"https:\/\/api.oyez.org\/taxonomy\/term\/14"},"facts_of_the_case":"\u003Cp\u003EMerle Denezpi, a member of the Navajo tribe, pleaded guilty to an assault charge in the Court of Indian Offenses. That court is a trial court that exercises jurisdiction over Native Americans where there are no tribal courts to do so. Six months later, a federal grand jury indicted Denezpi on a charge of aggravated sexual assault based on the same underlying events. He was found guilty and sentenced to 30 years\u2019 imprisonment.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EDenezpi challenged his prosecution in federal court, arguing that it violated the Constitution\u2019s Double Jeopardy Clause because the Court of Indian Offenses is a federal agency. The district court ruled against Denezpi, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit affirmed.\u003C\/p\u003E\n","question":"\u003Cp\u003EDoes a prosecution in the Court of Indian Offenses trigger the Constitution\u2019s Double Jeopardy Clause?\u003C\/p\u003E\n","conclusion":"\u003Cp\u003EThe Double Jeopardy Clause does not bar successive prosecutions of distinct offenses arising from a single act, even if a single sovereign prosecutes them. Justice Amy Coney Barrett authored the majority opinion of the Court.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EThe Double Jeopardy Clause does not prohibit prosecuting a person twice \u201cfor the same conduct or actions,\u201d but for the same \u201coffence.\u201d Under the dual-sovereignty principle, two offenses arising from the same act can therefore be separately prosecuted without offending the Double Jeopardy Clause, even if they have identical elements and could not be separately prosecuted if enacted by a single sovereign. Denezpi\u2019s single act constituted assault and battery under the Ute Mountain Ute Code and aggravated sexual abuse in Indian country under the U.S. Code. 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