Legal Question in Constitutional Law in Utah
Writing a novel
I am writing a novel, and am wanting to make sure that I abide by the reality of our current legal system. The characters end up killing someone in Texas, after going on a crime spree in both washington and colorado, where they commit assault, arson, and kidnapping. The people whom them attack do not press charges, although they do try them fror murder in Texas. Do they have to go to court in each state, or does the government try them for the collection of actions?
2 Answers from Attorneys
Re: Writing a novel
The states where the crimes are committed will prosecute the violators in that state.
Re: Writing a novel
The crimes you describe are generally governed by state law, not federal law. Accordingly, each would be prosecuted in (and by) the state where they occurred. They could be committed in ways that would bring them under federal law, in which case it is possible that the federal government would prosecute all of them. Even then, it would probably hold separate trials in each locale rather than transport many witnesses to a single location. The only reason it might choose to have a single trial would be if the crimes were so closely linked to one another that a single jury would need to consider all the evidence.
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