Black’s Law Dictionary 27 (9th ed. 2009). An implied acquittal occurs “when a jury convicts on a lesser alternate charge and fails to reach a verdict on the greater charge.... ” Brazzel, 491 F.3d at 978. The Supreme Court recently examined the circumstances in which an implied acquittal can be inferred from a jury’s findings. Yeager v. United States, — U.S. —, 129 S.Ct. 2360, 174 L.Ed.2d 78 (2009). The Court explained that where a jury renders a verdict on one count but is deadlocked on another count, the government is barred from relitigating factual issues that are conclusively resolved by the jury’s “valid and final judgment” as to the count on which a verdict was reached. Id. at 2367, 2370; see also Green v. United States, 355 U.S. 184, 190-91, 78 S.Ct. 221, 2 L.Ed.2d 199 (1957) (<HOLDING>). Thus, in a jury trial, an “acquittal,”
holding that where both firstdegree and felony murder were possible bases for a murder conviction a jury instruction that suggested the jury could rely on felony murder as the predicate offense for a conviction for conspiracy to commit murder was improper because under arizona law a conviction for conspiracy to commit firstdegree murder requires a specific intent to kill holding that conviction for seconddegree murder operates as implied acquittal on firstdegree murder count holding that although premeditation is outside the heartland of seconddegree murder guideline upward departure from seconddegree murder guideline based on premeditation was improper because commission considered the defendants state of mind in assigning a higher base offense level to firstdegree murder than to seconddegree murder holding that first and seconddegree intentional murder verdicts are consistent with a felony murder verdict because lack of intent is not an element of seconddegree felony murder holding that it was not error to allow the penalty phase jury to hear evidence that the defendants previous conviction of seconddegree murder was obtained pursuant to an indictment for firstdegree murder