Two former executives of Adelphia Communications Corp. may be entitled to dismissal on double jeopardy grounds of the conspiracy charges lodged against them in a second indictment now that the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has voted 7-4 in their favor.
But the dissenting opinion shows that the 3rd Circuit’s divided ruling is just the latest fissure in a deepening split among the federal circuits on the issue of how courts should tackle double jeopardy claims that arise from successive prosecutions under the general conspiracy law.
