Man Avoids Murder Charge Due To Legal Loophole
DALLAS (AP) -- Six days after Sharone Sylvester Brown pleaded guilty to assaulting his girlfriend, authorities received word that she had died. They had him arrested and wanted to try him for murder.
But they ended up letting Brown go due to rules concerning "double jeopardy."
Police and prosecutors are lamenting the oversight that allowed Brown's case to fall into a legal loophole: Since he had pleaded guilty to misdemeanor assault after the death of Sherry Whitacre, he couldn't be tried on a more serious charge for the same crime.
They tell The Dallas Morning News that they didn't know until April 30 that Whitacre had died on April 17. Brown pleaded to the misdemeanor on April 24 and got 60 days in jail, of which he served 20.
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