## Facts

- Larry Gene Heath, an Alabama resident, arranged for two men to kill his wife.
- Heath met the men in Georgia near the Alabama border, led them to the Heath home in Alabama, and departed.
- The men kidnapped Heath’s wife from her home in Alabama; her body was later found in Georgia, and evidence indicated the killing occurred in Georgia.
- Georgia arrested Heath; after waiving Miranda rights, he confessed.
- Heath pleaded guilty in Georgia to malice murder in exchange for a life sentence.
- Alabama later indicted Heath for capital murder (murder during a kidnapping) based on the same course of conduct.
- Heath moved to dismiss the Alabama prosecution on Double Jeopardy grounds and argued Alabama lacked jurisdiction because the killing occurred in Georgia; the trial court denied the motion.
- Heath was convicted in Alabama and sentenced to death; Alabama appellate courts affirmed.

## Issues

1. Whether the Double Jeopardy Clause bars successive prosecutions by two different States for offenses arising out of the same conduct under the dual sovereignty doctrine.
2. Whether the Supreme Court should decide a claim that Alabama lacked jurisdiction when that claim was not properly preserved in state appellate proceedings.

## Decision

- The Court held that the Double Jeopardy Clause does not bar successive prosecutions by two States for the same conduct when each State prosecutes under its own laws as a separate sovereign.
- The Court declined to decide Alabama’s jurisdiction to prosecute because the claim was raised too late and was not properly presented to the Alabama Supreme Court.
- The judgment upholding Heath’s Alabama conviction and death sentence was affirmed.

## Legal Principles

- Under the dual sovereignty doctrine, a single act that violates the laws of two sovereigns constitutes two distinct “offences” for Double Jeopardy purposes.
- The key inquiry is whether the prosecuting entities are “separate sovereigns,” which depends on whether their prosecutorial powers derive from separate and independent sources.
- States possess inherent sovereignty preserved by the Tenth Amendment; as a result, States are separate sovereigns not only from the federal government but also from each other for Double Jeopardy analysis.
- Once separate sovereignty exists, Double Jeopardy analysis does not turn on comparing or balancing the particular governmental “interests” served by each prosecution.
- The Supreme Court generally will not decide an issue not properly preserved in the state courts.

## Conclusion

Because Georgia and Alabama derive their criminal enforcement authority from independent sovereign sources, each State could prosecute Heath for offenses arising from the same homicide without violating the Fifth Amendment’s Double Jeopardy Clause, and the Court left the unpreserved jurisdiction claim unresolved.


Heath v. Alabama, 474 U.S. 82 (1985)