After a jury trial, appellant Tosha Williams was acquitted of malice murder but found guilty of felony murder while in the commission of an aggravated assault, voluntary manslaughter, and aggravated assault. She was convicted and sentenced to 20years imprisonment on the voluntary manslaughter charge. The jury’s verdict on the felony murder charge was vacated pursuant to Edge v. State , 261 Ga. 865 414 SE2d 463 1992, and the aggravated assault conviction was merged into the conviction for voluntary manslaughter. See OCGA § 16-1-7. The trial court subsequently granted Williams’ motion for new trial, finding, in relevant part, that the jury had been selected in violation of Batson v. Kentucky , 476 U.S. 79 106 SC 1712, 90 LE2d 69 1986. After the grant of her motion for new trial, Williams filed a plea in bar on double jeopardy grounds seeking to preclude a second prosecution on the charges of felony murder and aggravated assault. The trial court denied the plea and the parties initiated jury selection. Before trial began, Williams pled guilty to aggravated assault and appealed the judgment and sentence, as well as the denial of her plea of double jeopardy. The Court of Appeals affirmed. See Williams v. State , 300 Ga. App. 305 684 SE2d 430 2009. We granted Williams’ petition for certiorari to determine whether the Court of Appeals erred by affirming the denial of the plea in bar. We now reverse. 1. The Court of Appeals first rejected Williams’ double jeopardy defense on its “merits,” holding she was precluded from asserting a constitutional defense of double jeopardy to a second prosecution on the greater offense of felony murder because a defendant waives the right to plead former jeopardy when she secures a new trial through her own efforts. Id. at 305-306. As a general rule, re-prosecution for the same crime based upon the same facts is not barred if subsequent proceedings resulted in the setting aside, reversal, or vacating of the conviction, unless the accused was adjudged not guilty or there was a finding that the evidence did not authorize the verdict. Keener v. State , 238 Ga. 7, 8-9 230 SE2d 846 1976; Daniels v. State , 165 Ga. App. 397 1 299 SE2d 746 1983. See also OCGA § 16-1-8 d 2. This rule, however, has no application to the present case where Williams successfully appealed her conviction for voluntary manslaughter and faced retrial not only for the voluntary manslaughter charge but also for the greater offense of felony murder. As stated by the United States Supreme Court in Green v. United States , 355 U.184, 193-194, 78 SC 221, 2 LE2d 199 1957, “conditioning an appeal of one offense on a coerced surrender of a valid plea of former jeopardy on another offense exacts a forfeiture in plain conflict with the constitutional bar against double jeopardy.” Accordingly, we find no waiver of Williams’ right to plead double jeopardy.1
2. Williams contends her double jeopardy rights were violated when the State sought to retry her on charges of felony murder and aggravated assault because she was implicitly acquitted of these charges at the first trial. See Edge , supra. In the first trial, Williams was found guilty of felony murder, voluntary manslaughter, and aggravated assault. Applying the modified merger rule of Edge , the trial court vacated the jury’s verdicts as to felony murder and aggravated assault and entered a judgment of conviction against Williams on the charge of voluntary manslaughter.
