Bush & Cheney can be acquitted and still be sent to jail.

[Wizard777]

Judges can still punish acquitted defendants

WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court declined Monday to reconsider a legal rule that might surprise most Americans: Judges can punish defendants for certain crimes even after a jury has acquitted them of those charges.

In recent years, the justices have described the right to jury trial as one of the bedrock principles of American law. At the same time, they have been unwilling to say that a jury's not-guilty verdict on some charges means the defendant cannot be punished. Instead, the court has said judges may take into account "acquitted conduct" when they decide on a prison term.


PELOSI! You've got some splanin' to do! So basically all the republicans can find Bush and Cheney to be not guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity. The judge can still send them to jail.

[Demeter]

1. Stop the World, I Want to Get Off

:puke: ....my head is spinning and I don't feel too good.....

[DangerDave921]

2. So F'd up!

I'm an attorney and have never heard of that. (I don't do criminal work though).

As for Bush and Cheney, there would still have to be a guilty finding on SOME count before punishment could be meted out. If a defendant gets acquitted on all charges, the judge cannot impost any sentence.

So what are B and C going to be tried for? And when?

[Wizard777]

5. According to this article. Acquittal is something the Judge can take into consideration.

But being found not guilty will not stop the Judge from sending you to jail. At the very least it would force SCOTUS to hear the case and render a decission on this.

[DangerDave921]

7. Not quite

The story says the defendant in that case was convicted on another charge. In sentencing him for that charge, the judge was allowed to consider the other charge on which he was acquitted. But the key point is that the defendant was convicted on some charge. If the defendant had been acquitted on ALL charges, there is no way the Judge could sentence him at all because there is nothing to sentence him on.

[Wizard777]

8. Her was convicted on powdered cocaine that carries 2 - 3 years.

The judge sentences him to 15 years which is the penalty for the crack cocaine he was acquitted on. So what you are saying is that as long as the jury convicts you on jay walking. The judge can sentance you to execution for the murder you were acquitted of. That's not much better. Your still serving the sentance for a crime you have been aquitted of. That other conviction is just a slippery slope easily over come.

[horseshoecrab]

11. thank you n/t

[sutz12]

3. I'm sure this only applies to Republican judges..

Those evil left wing activist judges still have to follow the law and the Constitution, you know.

:sarcasm:

[lonestarnot]

4. WTF?

Kangaroo boing boing boing boing boing boing? I think this is ... there is something wrong here. LOL

[zbdent]

6. According to the current Republican attitude toward suspected criminals ...

Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Rice, etc. can be "arrested" and sent away indefinitely without a trial of any sort ...

They fear 1/21/2009 ...

[High Plains]

9. The Alice in Wonderland nature of the federal courts.

Another favorite example: Having your car searched by a drug-sniffing dog is not a search.

[ThomWV]

10. This isn't Alice in Wonderland, it is Reason gone straight to Hell