Once Acquitted, Twice in Jeopardy: The Use of State Crimes as Rico Predicates

Authors

• Lily Wang

Abstract

Since its enactment in 1970, the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) has been the target of—and survived—many constitutional challenges. While RICO passes constitutional muster as enacted, federal prosecution that uses state acquittals as predicate acts under RICO is barred by the Double Jeopardy Clause. Justice Neil Gorsuch’s dissent in the recent Supreme Court case Denezpi v. United States sets the foundation for an assimilation exception to the same-sovereign element of the Double Jeopardy Clause analysis. The narrow Bartkus exception to dual sovereignty is a weak shield against the modern innovation of compound-complex offenses. Defining an assimilation exception to the dual sovereignty doctrine, thereby estopping the federal government from re-prosecuting a state acquittal, would protect the civil liberties of criminal defendants without diminishing cross-sovereign cooperation.

Recommended Citation

Lily Wang, Once Acquitted, Twice in Jeopardy: The Use of State Crimes as Rico Predicates, 77 Fla. L. Rev. 1217 (2025).
Available at: https://scholarship.law.ufl.edu/flr/vol77/iss3/8