Posted on 08/24/2009 6:21:55 PM PDT by Loyal Buckeye
Just a question about the release of the Lockerbee murderer. Why didn't the U.S. ask for extradition when the Feds found out the murderer was going to be released?
I'm not a lawyer, but I would think that would be the first thing I would have considered.
The Obamaloon administration trying to do something to a terrorist?
Bwahahahahah!
Double jeopardy issues would have prevented a trial. He was tried for the crime of murder of Americans, albeit in a Netherlands court under Scots law.
Double jeopardy is not an issue when there are criminal charges in two separate, sovereign countries. His original trial was not in a U.S. court. We could easily have asked that he be extradited. But given the amateurs in our legislative branch, and given that the attorney general has been busy figuring out how to persecute our CIA, they didn’t get around to it.
Oh, I could make an argument the other way. We would be trying him for the same crime he has already been convicted for.
Besides, if he has pancreatic cancer, he’ll be appearing before the True Judge soon!
You forget who is running our government - the enemy.
It is not my argument to make. First, the Constitution guarantees AMERICANS cannot be tried twice for the same offense. (Although the federal government has figured out a way to do an end run around that prohibition.) It does not mention foreigners who commit crimes against Americans abroad. As a sovereign nation, we have the right to make and APPLY our laws. Neither U.S law nor international taw currently obligates any sovereign state to recognize another state’s criminal judgments. A sovereign state may thus prosecute a defendant regardless of any legal action that may have been previously taken against that person in another country. What Scotland and Libya have done is kick sand in the faces of the victims’ families. We could have and should have acted to prevent his release.
I'd defer to Arlen Specter about Scottish law. He's an expert on it, you know.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.