United States v. Valdiviez-Garza, 669 F.3d 1199 (11th Cir. Feb. 6, 2012).

The Court states:

Under the collateral estoppel doctrine, when an issue of ultimate fact has once been determined by a valid and final judgment, that issue cannot again be litigated between the same parties in any future lawsuit. Ashe v. Swenson, 397 U.S. 436, 443, 90 S.Ct. 1189, 25 L.Ed.2d 469 (1970). We have characterized the doctrine as a narrow exception to the Government's right to prosecute a defendant in separate trials for related conduct, which applies only where a fact or issue necessarily determined in the defendant's favor in the former trial is an essential element of conviction at the second trial. United States v. Brown, 983 F.2d 201, 202 (11th Cir. 1993). To determine whether collateral estoppel applies in a criminal proceeding, courts engage in a two-part inquiry. See United States v. Ohayon, 483 F.3d 1281, 1286 (11th Cir.2007). First, the court must ascertain what facts were necessarily determined during the acquittal at the first trial. See id. Where a previous judgment of acquittal was based upon a general verdict, as is usually the case, the reviewing court must examine the record of [the] prior proceeding, taking into account the pleadings, evidence, charge, and other relevant matter. Ashe, 397 U.S. at 444. In making this determination, a court must decide whether the jury's verdict of acquittal was based upon reasonable doubt about a single element of the crime which the court can identify. Brown, 983 F.2d at 202. In making this assessment, we apply the well-recognized presumption that a jury follows its instructions.Id. Second, the court must decide whether the facts determined as part of the prior acquittal are an essential element of the offense charged in the subsequent proceeding. See Ohayon, 483 F.3d at 1286.