as the price of a successful appeal from a conviction he was only sentenced five to twenty years imprisonment. Green's second trial for first degree murder placed him in jeopardy twice for the same offense in violation of the Fifth Amendment, and the conviction was reversed to secure Green's rights under the U.S. Constitution.The Crist v. Bretz (1978) case involves the federal rule of ruling the timewhen jeopardy attaches in a jury trial is binding on Montana through the Fourteenth Amendment. Merrel Cline and L.R. Bretz were brought to trial in Montana court on charges of grand larceny, obtaining money and property by false pretenses, and several counts of preparing or offering false evidence. A jury was selected within three days and recorded and sworn in. Cline and Bretz filed for a motion drawing attention to the allegation in the false-pretense charge that the defendant's illegal conduct began on January 13, 1974. The prosecutor moved to amend the information saying that "1974" was a typographical error and that the date should have been January 13, 1973, the same date as the alleged in the grand larceny count. The trial judge denied the motion and dismissed the false-pretense count. The prosecution asked the trial judge to dismiss the entire information so that a new one could be filed. That motion was granted by the judge and the jury that was sworn in was dismissed. New information was filed that charged the appellees with grand larceny and obtaining money and property by false pretenses.After a second trial jury had been selected and sworn into duty, the appellees moved to dismiss the new information saying that the Double Jeopardy Clause of the United States and Montana Constitutions secured a second prosecution. The motion was denied and the trial began. Cline and Bretz were found guilty on false-pretenses count and sentenced to terms of imprisonment.Following the trial, Cline and Bretz brought a habeas corpus proce...
