Heath Vs Alabama Case Study

CITATION:
Heath v. Alabama, 472 U.S. 82 (1985).

PARTIES:
Petitioner = Larry Gene Heath Respondent = Alabama FAC TS:
The petitioner, a resident of Russel County, Alabama hired Charles Owens and Gregory Lumpkin to kill his wife, Rebecca McGuire Heath, for $2,000. Mr. Heath left his residence in Alabama to meet Mr. Owens and Mr. Lumpkin in Georgia, just across the Alabama state line. Mr. Heath led the two men back to his residence in Alabama, gave them the keys to his car and home. The two men then kidnapped Mrs Heath. The car belonging to the Heath’s was later found on the side of a road in Troup County, Georgia. Mrs. Heath's body was inside. The cause of death was a gunshot wound to the head.

PROCEDURAL HISTORY:
The men who he hired kidnapped his wife in one state and killed her in another. In February 1982, the petitioner pleaded guilty to “malice murder” in Georgia in exchange for a sentence of life imprisonment. However, he was also prosecuted in an Alabama trial court for murder during a kidnapping. He was convicted and sentenced to death from the Alabama court. He claimed that the second trial exposed him to Double Jeopardy in violation of the clause of the Fifth Amendment. Mr. Heath appealed, but the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals and the Supreme Court of Alabama affirmed the conviction. ISSUE:
Under the dual sovereignty doctrine, is it legally permissible for two states to prosecute the same defendant for the same offense without committing Double Jeopardy?