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ORIGINAL: Marc2b

No. I’m not kidding you. If the accused were not in court – for whatever reason – then the trial should not have proceeded but been postponed until the accused were in court. This is not about them (the accused) but all of us. You’ve accepted that it is okay violate other people’s rights (based upon your dislike of the accused and their lack of co-operation). Having accepted that it is okay to make exceptions when it comes to people’s rights, on what basis will you protest if your rights should be violated?

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ORIGINAL: slvemike4u

Seems You missed the point entirely Marc,railing about the trial in absentia....while the defendandt essentially told the Italian Court to go fuck themselves is a tad....ironic.

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ORIGINAL: slvemike4u

Well as you stated previously.....I'm flawless.

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Apples and Oranges Marc...Polanski pled out before fleeing a publicity driven Judge who was going to toss out a plea agreement.

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So what, they should send their own spooks to abduct the spooks in question from the 'States and set off a massive and ugly international incident instead of a minor one?

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violated, for people who decide not to appear in court ? Are you serious ? What part of "they have had every chance to appear in court but chose not to" dont you understand ?

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ORIGINAL: Marc2b

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violated, for people who decide not to appear in court ? Are you serious ? What part of "they have had every chance to appear in court but chose not to" dont you understand ?

What part of this isn't about them it's about all of us, don't you understand? Your posistion is that it is perfectly okay to violate the accused rights becasue they are bad people who won't show up in court to answer the charges. You have therefore accepted the principle that it is okay to violate people's rights. Thus, you have also lost all moral and intellectual standing to assert your own rights. After all, if it's okay to violate other people's rights, then it is certainly okay for others to violate your rights.

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Justice delayed is justice denied....or something like that.

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You miss the crucial point that they went to Italy, violated Italian Law, and were tried under Italian law. Trials in absentia are legal in Italy, so that produces two questions for you.

Do you think anyone, American or otherwise, has the right to go abroad, break the law, and not be held accountable by the law of the land ? IE when in Rome ect ect

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Next, how would you try someone who doesnt wish to appear in court, such as Bin Laden ?

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ORIGINAL: Marc2b

A better example would be Ira Einhorn, the low life, piece of shit, who murdered his ex-girlfriend and shoved her body into a trunk in his closet. He fled to europe to avoid prosecution. He was tried in absentia. That was wrong. The charges simply should have been allowed to stand (there is, after all, no staute of limitations on murder) until such time as he could be located and returned to the United States for a proper trial. He eventually was found and returned (after much international legal haggling) to the States - so it can be done. Unfortunately his convition in absentia was upheld - it should have been over turned and a new trial granted. Then we could have convicted the evil shithead properly, with his rights - WHICH ARE ALSO OUR RIGHTS! - protected.

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Trial in absentia is common here. If you get a speeding ticket and don't show up in traffic court, then you are assumed to be pleading guilty and you'll get a letter in the mail telling you what your fine is and when it has to be paid. If you ignore that, then your license will be suspended.

They don't let you keep driving recklessly until you wander into court and ask to be tried.

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I think of it differently. Einhorn, like all of us, had been given the right to defend himself in court. He chose not to exercise it. He fled because he believed that he would be convicted if he showed.

I feel like he waived his right when he did not show in court.

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How many years has the U.S. been waiting to jail that child rapist, Polanski?

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ORIGINAL: Marc2b

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Justice delayed is justice denied....or something like that.

Yes it is and it fucking sucks. But what price are you willing to pay to see justice done? How many times have we seen somebody escape justice because the evidence against them was thrown out by a judge because the police violated the accused's Fourth Amendment rights? We could solve that problem easily by repealing the Fourth Amendment (violating everybody's rights, in other words) - but is that a price you're willing to pay to see someone convicted?