10 Movies That Get Basic Facts Wrong

7. You Can't Be Tried Twice For The Same Crime - Double Jeopardy

The 1999 crime thriller Double Jeopardy may have been widely panned by critics, but it made a stonking $177 million worldwide, even in spite of the fact that its representation of the titular legal doctrine was laughably inaccurate.

The film follows Libby Parsons (Ashley Judd), a woman who is convicted of the murder of her husband (Bruce Greenwood), despite the fact that he in fact framed her while faking his own death.

In prison, she learns of the "Double Jeopardy Clause," that a person can't be convicted of the same crime twice, and so believes that she will be immune to prosecution upon leaving prison and killing her husband for real this time.

As such, after being released, she ends up tracking her treacherous hubby down and killing him, with an apparently clean legal slate.

Except, the real-life premise of the Double Jeopardy Clause is that it prevents someone being convicted twice for the same criminal event, not the same type of crime.

Given that killing her husband at the end of the movie is a clearly distinct act from her supposed murder of him at the start of the movie, she wouldn't qualify for the Double Jeopardy Clause and would still be actionable for his death.

This isn't exactly a hugely complex legal concept, and yet, Hollywood "streamlined" it for the sake of a more easily marketable concept. And clearly, it worked.