U.S. Sup. Ct.;
15-537
The issue-preclusion component of the Double Jeopardy Clause bars a second contest of an issue of fact or law raised and necessarily resolved by a prior judgment. Ashe v. Swenson, 397 U. S. 436, 443. The burden is on the defendant to demonstrate that the issue he seeks to shield from reconsideration was actually decided by a priorjury’s verdict of acquittal. Schiro v. Farley, 510 U. S. 222, 233. When the same jury returns irreconcilably inconsistent verdicts on the issue in question, a defendant cannot meet that burden. The acquittal, therefore, gains no preclusive effect regarding the count of conviction. United States v. Powell, 469 U. S. 57, 68–69. Issue preclusion does, however, attend a jury’s verdict of acquittal if the same jury in the same proceeding fails to reach a verdict on a different count turning on the same issue of ultimate fact. Yeager v. United States, 557 U. S. 110, 121–122.
