Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2019/10/29/family-of-uk-teen-killed-by-us.html
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On the one hand, she’s a killer and should face justice.
On the other hand, this quote seems fucked up to me:
“She’s a mom of three children — what example is this setting to her three children? … It just seems wrong. I don’t understand why when something seems so simple to us.”
Obviously she shouldn’t escape punishment just because she has kids, but that sort of disingenuous, “Think of the good example it’ll be for her children if they never get to see their mother because she’s imprisoned in a foreign country!” is… not great.
Donald couldn’t bring these aggrieved parties together for a resolution, so he should probably keep his tiny hands out of the bigger conflicts between countries.
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Because she is a craven, gutless, lying coward, that’s why. She’s also a Trump Republican. But I repeat myself.
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Lock her up!
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Interesting. I thought the suit would be for emotional distress caused by trump ambushing the parents with their child’s killer.
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The family said it will accuse the administration of “lawless misconduct” and will also be seeking damages. CBS News reached out to Sacoolas’ lawyers and is waiting for a reply.
Whose law?
It is really sad what happened, but it looks like they are counting more on the public backlash than the law itself.
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She’s a mom of three children — what example is this setting to her three children?
Just the one you’d expect from one of Biff’s GOP supporters: “I’ve got mine, Jack, so screw everyone else. NRPI, anyhow.”
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Killing someone with your car is legal in the USA?
The absolute minimum is persecuting her in the USA. On the other hand we know how the US handles persecution of their own diplomats/military when killing foreigners abroad: they get slap on the wrist at best or a medal.
I’m not sure how long she’d actually spend in prison. If she just briefly drove onto the wrong side of the road after making a turn- something lots of people do if they’ve just come from a country where they drive on the other side, most of whom are lucky enough not to meet anyone coming the other way before they realise- then this is probably causing death by careless driving, and at the lower end of that scale. As someone with no previous record, she would probably get either community service or a suspended sentence, as well as losing her driving licence.
(The UK obviously can’t take away an American driving licence, but can ban an American from driving in the UK).
A further complication is that AFAIK she didn’t actually have diplomatic immunity. Someone- it’s not yet clear whether the Americans, the UK Foreign Office, or someone else- told the local police that she did, and they let her go. AFAICT she is covered by the Status of Forces Agreement between the US and the UK, but that wouldn’t give her immunity.
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I’m not sure about the US, but my country’s laws do not apply to acts that happened outside its territory even if comited by local citizens, so no Brazilian tribunal would have jurisdiction over the case.
Because of that, I’m not sure how the criminal case would proceed.
My comments was about the civil suit against the Trump administration for “lawless misconduct.”
Huh, nit-picky I know, and can’t tell for sure whether the same would apply in the US, but Brazilian law may too apply to crimes committed by a Brazilian outside the country when the act is also considered a crime in Brazil.
It literally just took place in the alleged rape/battery case against Neymar Jr, which ended up being archived but for completely different reasons. Had the inquiry moved forward he would be judged in Brazil for alleged crimes committed in France. I expect the same applies in the US as it is born out of a principle which I believe is fairly universal to democracies but not sure.
I think you’re wrong (Código Penal: Art. 7º, II) but brazilian law isn’t the topic here.
I thought that that part was not valid/does not apply to most Brazilians since they cannot be extradited, but it seems like it is a gray area.
It’s because they cannot be extradited. To prevent impunity from crimes committed abroad.
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Why do I think that – law or nor law, agreement or no agreement – Trump would by fiat declare that she does have immunity?
…if their mother takes responsibility for her actions
That kind of good example
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And do you think that good example will have a sufficiently positive effect on their lives that it will offset the negative effect of her not being a part of their lives because she’s in prison?
She could be charged with Death by Dangerous Driving, which carries a sentence of up to 14 years. Driving on the wrong side of the road would seem to fit the definition of ‘Dangerous Driving’ in the UK.
Potentially there’s a lesser charge of “causing death by careless or inconsiderate driving”, which carries a sentence of up to five years in prison.
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Chances are she’d get some jail time, but almost certainly low security, and possibly would be transferred to the US (although how a US prison could be considered preferable to a UK one I don---- oh wait, she’s rich and white, she’ll be ok).
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