UK family loses court battle in US diplomatic immunity case

[Eugene]

Source: Associated Press

20 minutes ago

LONDON (AP) — The parents of a British teen who was killed in a car crash lost a court battle with the U.K. government Tuesday over whether their son’s alleged killer, an American woman, had diplomatic immunity.

The family has been seeking justice for 19-year-old Harry Dunn, who died after his motorbike crashed into a car driven on the wrong side of the road outside a U.S. airbase in central England last August.

The car’s driver, Anne Sacoolas, left for the U.S. several weeks after the collision. Officials said she was entitled to diplomatic immunity because her husband worked at the airbase.

Sacoolas, 43, was charged in December with causing death by dangerous driving, but the U.S. State Department rejected a request to extradite her to Britain to face trial.

-snip-


Read more: https://apnews.com/article/international-news-england-ec3135666dcdc4c0438a257fabc53059

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Source: PA Media

Harry Dunn's parents lose high court immunity case

PA Media
Tue 24 Nov 2020 10.28 GMT

Harry Dunn’s parents have lost their high court battle against the Foreign Office over whether their son’s alleged killer had diplomatic immunity.

Dunn, 19, was killed when his motorbike crashed into a car being driven on the wrong side of the road by American Anne Sacoolas outside RAF Croughton in Northamptonshire on 27 August last year.

Sacoolas, whose husband Jonathan Sacoolas worked as a technical assistant at the base, left the country a few weeks later after the US said she was entitled to diplomatic immunity.

The 43-year-old was ultimately charged with causing death by dangerous driving last December, but an extradition request was rejected by the US State Department in January – a decision it later described as “final”.

-snip-

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/nov/24/harry-dunn-parents-lose-high-court-immunity-case

[CurtEastPoint]

1. This is absolutely wrong, shameful and heartbreaking for the Dunn family.

NO ONE is above the law. She gets immunity because her husband works on an air base? WTF?

[muriel_volestrangler]

3. It's generally thought that she and her husband work for the CIA

See eg https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/feb/09/anne-sacoolas-cia-officer-government-comment-harry-dunn

[hlthe2b]

2. They CAN and MUST appeal

Horrible. That woman deserves to be prosecuted. Even if she faces a minimal sentence, this family deserves justice.

[iluvtennis]

12. + agree. nt

[marble falls]

4. One more Trump shitstain. She needs to face justice because it's only right.

[abqtommy]

5. I'll be interested in seeing Joe Biden's approach to this travesty of justice.

[malthaussen]

6. Bad law.

"Diplomatic immunity" should only extend to one's official functions, but the world does not operate on "should."

-- Mal

[Happy Hoosier]

7. Biden should extradite her.

That shit is unacceptable.

[Cozmo]

9. YES!

[pandr32]

8. Such an awful case

Nothing can bring back Dunn, but Mrs. Sacoolas should not be let off the hook for her dangerous driving. The Dunn family deserves an acknowledgment of responsibility for their son's death and some kind of compensation. They should also have the reassurance that Mrs. Sacoolas has some kind of legal consequence--at the very least the loss of driving privileges so the same will never happen again to someone else's loved one.

[Pantagruel]

10. She's now loose

on American roadways. Not very comforting, the moral and legal arguments aside.

[Mawspam2]

11. How about...

...try her in absentia, since she is too cowardly to face up to her actions, then demand the USA carry out her sentence on American soil. The US may refuse but at least offer compensation, which is better than nothing, then ding the husbands record to keep him from serving overseas again.