It follows that an act denounced as a crime by both national and state sovereignties is an offense against the peace and dignity of both and may be punished by each . The Fifth Amendment , like all the other guaranties in the first eight amendments , applies only to proceedings by the federal government ( Barron v. City of Baltimore , 7 Pet . 243 ) , and the double jeopardy therein forbidden is a second prosecution under authority of the federal government after a first trial for the same offense under the same authority . ( EDITOR 'S NOTE : the Barron precedent was superseded 35 years later by the 14th Amendment ) This separation of sovereignty is seen with the separate Federal and State trials of convicted Oklahoma City bombing co-conspirator Terry Nichols . Terry Nichols and Timothy McVeigh were tried and convicted in Federal Court , with Nichols sentenced to life in prison with no possibility of parole , and McVeigh sentenced to death and later executed . While the building was owned by the Federal government , serving as branch locations for multiple Federal agencies , the Federal government had criminal jurisdiction only over 8 of the 168 confirmed deaths . With the express intent of seeing Nichols also sentenced to death , while contemplating the same for McVeigh if his death sentence was overturned on appeal , the State of Oklahoma filed charges against Terry Nichols
Oklahoma City bombing
Oklahoma City bombing
Double Jeopardy Clause