5. Massive Misunderstanding Of Double Jeopardy Rule - Double Jeopardy
Rule: You cannot be re-tried for a specific criminal incident you have already been tried for. Double Jeopardy is one of the most idiotic movies ever made, because whoever wrote it clearly has no idea how the legal system works, yet when your film hinges so clearly on that, you really ought to read a book and find things out. The premise of the film is that Ashley Judd is jailed for murdering her husband (Bruce Greenwood), but she realises that he faked his own death. She is told by a fellow inmate that because of the Double Jeopardy rule in U.S. law - where you can't be tried for the same crime twice - she would be able to kill her husband without reproach when she finally gets out of prison. The film ends with her killing her husband, and it is implied that she will be exonerated for it, but this is to totally misinterpret the statute to a head-smackingly inane extent. Judd's "second" killing of her husband would not be the same crime, because it is an entirely different event, so she could theoretically still be tried for the murder. Sadly, lots of people no doubt went away from the film believing its spiel, but it is a shocking inept piece of crime fiction.