Double Jeopardy: Washington’s DA Tackles Twice the Trouble

In the scorching summer of 1922, Washington D.C.’s United States District Attorney Peyton Gordon found himself grappling with a daunting task. The office of the DA, unlike its counterparts across the United States, carried an unprecedented burden – a dual jurisdiction that left prosecutors reeling. ‘If there is ever a time when there is any question as to a man’s guilt, I would never put myself in a position to feel that a person has been convicted when innocent,’ DA Gordon candidly admitted in an exclusive interview. With the weight of this confession still lingering, the DA’s office faced an uphill battle. The jurisdiction, which spanned both federal and state laws, left the team handling an astonishing 8,000 to 10,000 cases annually. This staggering figure accounted for a staggering 25 percent of all criminal cases brought before United States Attorneys nationwide.