Once a protective disposition has become final, may a prosecutor still bring a fresh prosecution against the same person for the same criminal facts?
General information · Not legal advice
Material to check
In practice material of this kind, we check the paper showing that the protective disposition was ordered and has become final, any papers recording that the case was transferred under the transfer provision, and the charging documents, to see whether the facts alleged there are the same facts.
These are types of material to look for, not evidence already verified by PRO SE.
Where readings differ
One reading takes the bar at face value: where a protective disposition provided for in this Special Act has become final, no new prosecution may be brought against that family violence offender for the same criminal facts, so both finality and the identity of the facts must be shown.
Another reading turns on the proviso, which says the bar does not apply where the case has been transferred under the transfer provision, and leaves open how far the facts of a later charge must match before they count as the same criminal facts.
Your judgment
When the facts in a later charging paper overlap only partly with the facts behind the final disposition, what in the record shows whether they are the same criminal facts?
PRO SE does not make this decision or keep a case record on this public site.When to reconsider
We look at this again if the provision is amended to change the effect of a final disposition or the scope of the transfer proviso, or if a court decision explains when two sets of facts are the same criminal facts.