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Former cardiologist Guy Turcotte has been found guilty of murdering his children.

Charged with first-degree murder for stabbing his two young children to death a combined 46 times in 2009, the jury found Turcotte guilty of second-degree murder.

After a trial lasting more than two months and seven days of deliberating, a jury of seven men and four women came to the verdict on Sunday.

A jury member nominated to speak on behalf of the 11 jurors stood and announced the verdict to a hushed courtroom just before noon.

Isabelle Gaston, mother of the slain children, sat in the front row. She lowered her head as the verdict was announced, her eyes tearing up. “Yes,” she said faintly. “Thank you.”

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The Double Jeopardy Clause of the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution provides: "[N]or shall any person be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb . . . ."[1] The four essential protections included are prohibitions against, for the same offense:
retrial after an acquittal;
retrial after a conviction;
retrial after certain mistrials; and
multiple punishment

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There are several reasons for double jeopardy protection:
To prevent the government from using its superior resources to wear down and erroneously convict innocent persons;
To protect individuals from the financial, emotional, and social consequences of successive prosecutions;
To preserve the finality and integrity of criminal proceedings, which would be compromised if the government were allowed to ignore verdicts it did not like;
To restrict prosecutorial discretion over the charging process; and
To eliminate judicial discretion to impose cumulative punishments otherwise not clearly prohibited by law.
State courts decisions on double jeopardy can provide more protection for defendants than the U.S. Constitution, but not less. - See more at: http://criminal.findlaw.com/criminal-rights/double-jeopardy.

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In some countries, including Canada, Mexico and the United States, the guarantee against being "twice put in jeopardy" is a constitutional right. In other countries, the protection is afforded by statute.[3]