A federal appeals court said today that U.S. State Department employee Christopher Deedy cannot be re-tried in state court for manslaughter in the November 2011 shooting death of Kollin Elderts in a Waikiki McDonald’s restaurant.

The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said, however, that Deedy can be re-tried for assault.

Deedy’s first trial ended with the jurors deadlocked on second-degree murder, the only charge they were asked to consider. The second trial ended with a new set of jurors deadlocked on manslaughter and with the trial judge acquitting Deedy of second-degree murder. The judge ordered a third trial for manslaughter.

But before the state could take him to trial a third time, Deedy appealed to the federal courts claiming that his continued state custody to stand trial for manslaughter after he had been acquitted of murder violated U.S. Constitutional protections against double-jeopardy.

U.S. District Judge Derek K. Watson agreed.

The state appealed Watson’s decision to the Ninth Circuit, which handed down today’s opinion.

Deedy federal appeals court… by Honolulu Star-Advertiser on Scribd