MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Never let it be said we leave a stone unturned as we do "Ask CNN." Today's subject: double jeopardy, and we're not talking about too much Alex Trebek.</s>KECIA JACKSON: My name is Kecia Jackson, and I want to ask CNN why would our judicial system allow an individual to be acquitted in a criminal trial and then be put to a civil trial afterwards? Why would double jeopardy not stand?</s>ROGER COSSACK, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Double jeopardy is an established part of our United States Constitution, and what it says is that no individual can be tried criminally twice for the same offense. That is, if you are tried and you are acquitted, you can't be brought up again, even if they find evidence that would perhaps convict you for the crime. That's it. Once you've been tried and acquitted, you cannot be tried again. But that has to do with a constitutional guarantee, and that has to do also with the fact that if you are convicted on a criminal case, you're going to go or you liable to go to prison. In a civil case, that's not the case and there is no constitutional guarantee because cause in fact, if you are found liable in a civil case, what you will have to do is probably have to pay some damages, which means pay money. So, the difference is is that one, the constitutional protection is to protect you from being tried twice because you are facing prison. A civil trial, you don't have that constitutional protection. The reason is that you are not facing prison, you are having to pay money damages.
Ask CNN: How Can an Individual Be Acquitted in Criminal Trial and Held Liable in a Civil Trial?