Clinton needed double jeopardy protection, rather he needed to be found not guilty by going to trial, so he would never have to worry about facing a murder charge concerning Ackerman ever again, no matter what evidence would have eventually come out. At this point in the movie Davis was not linked to the other murders so the only murder he had to worry about being convicted of was the Ackerman murder.
The double jeopardy scene starts with Clinton calling Mitch and telling Mitch to stop following him. It is also in this scene that Clinton lays out what his plan was for Mitch concerning Ackerman. Mitch asks Davis why he didn't just produce Mitch's business card at the police station the night of the arrest and turn Mitch in that night. Davis chose not to play his "ace" because had Davis told on Mitch that night all that would have proved was that Mitch hit Ackerman, it would NOT have proved that Mitch killed Ackerman or that Davis did not kill Ackerman. Davis would have still gone to trial because they had evidence that Davis could have murdered Ackerman such as Ackermn's hair was all over Davis's clothes, the bloody tools and plastic was found in Davis's van, and most importantly no paint or car parts were found at the crime scene. If Mitch had hit Ackerman with enough force to kill him there would be some evidence of that at the crime scene, but Mitch only tapped Ackerman and did not cause that amount of injury to Ackerman. The medical examiner testified that what could have killed Ackerman was blunt trauma to the back of the head which cold have been caused by a hammer. Additionally, Mitch didn't zealously go after Davis at the trial because Mitch thought Davis was innocent. Had Davis turned Mitch in at the beginning, Davis would have gone to trial and he probably would have been convicted of murdering Ackerman.
Instead Davis chose to go to trial and he was planning on using Mitch's business card at trial to create reasonable doubt that he didn't murder Ackermn but when Davis saw that Mitch was half questioning witnesses, discrediting the medical examiner, and then produced a fake caller corroborating that a hit and run did take place, Davis no longer needed to produce the card. Davis was found not guilty of killing Ackerman, therefore no matter what other evidence eventually came in, he could never be retried for murdering Ackerman, although he could be later tried for lesser crimes concerning Ackermn such as aggravated assault,attempted murder, etc. At this point in the movie the other murders were not connected to Davis so the only murder Davis was charged with was Ackerman's.
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