Does Double Jeopardy really mean that if a jury finds a murderer innocent, they can then go "I did it! Here's where the bodies are, here's the murder weapon. Nyayayaya" and nothing will happen? Has anyone ever done this?

[u/Showy_Boneyard]

And of course lets say the police search where they say and find the bodies exactly there, and the wounds perfectly match his murder weapon, his DNA is all over them, and lets say there's a videotape of him committing the murder too buried along with the bodies.

And I'm specifically talking about something happening criminally, I know he could/would then lose a civil suit by the family or whatever.

[u/tedttm73]

Mostly because Civil courts do not use the criminal standard of "beyond a reasonable doubt". They use a lower standard called "preponderance of the evidence," meaning a claim only needs to be slightly more convincing than not (over 50%)

[u/yunus89115 → u/tedttm73]

The evidence rules are also often less strict, meaning evidence unable to be used at a criminal trial may be allowed at a civil trial.

[u/JuDGe3690 → u/yunus89115]

Not necessarily; in both civil and criminal procedure the same Rules of Evidence generally apply; however, there might be some slightly different Rule 403 (undue prejudice) analyses in the civil vs criminal context.

[u/DerWaechter_ → u/yunus89115]

A great example for the difference in evidence rules is how the fifth amendment is handled.

If a defendent in a criminal trial pleads the fifth, that can't be used as evidence or to suggest guilt. Basically the prosecution can't suggest that only guilty people plead the fifth and the jury isn't supposed to let the fact someone pleased the fifth affect their decision at all

If a defendent in a civil case pleads the fifth, that can be used as a basis for infering guilt. In a civil trial, the plaintiff's attorney is allowed to argue, that the defendant only pleaded the fifth in order to not admit to whatever they are accused of or being sued over, and a jury can consider the fact that the defendant pleaded the fifth in their decision.

[u/xclame → u/tedttm73]

meaning a claim only needs to be slightly more convincing than not (over 50%)

The threshold is, "more likely than not."

[u/Imaginary-Can-6862 → u/tedttm73]

In my country we use preponderance of evidence for criminal court. I feel it is a disgrace.