Constitutional Law – Criminal Procedure – Successive State Prosecutions for Same Activity

Petitioner suspected of having robbed five persons on a single occasion. was indicted and tried for the robbery of three of them. His sole defense was alibi and he was acquitted when only one of the five victims identified him as the robber. Petitioner was then tried under an indictment for the robbery of a fourth victim. Petitioner interposed the same defense but was convicted at this second trial. The New Jersey Supreme Court affirmed. On certiorari to the United States Supreme Court, held, affirmed, three justices dissenting. Neither the successive trials nor the failure of the court to apply the doctrine of collateral estoppel to the facts of this case constituted a deprivation of petitioner’s liberty without due process of law. Hoag v. New Jersey, 356 U.S. 464 (1958).