TruthCalls
Graduate Poster
- Joined
- Oct 26, 2011
- Messages
- 1,960
Thanks for the correction.
Also, because Italy is one of those countries where the prosecution is allowed to appeal a provisional acquittal, in cases such as murder where there is no statute of limitations, the "single" trial may go on as long as the accused is alive, as the appeal courts including the CSC quash each judgment in turn.
But to correct your correction, the CSC does not need to finalize a judgment if it is not appealed, in accordance with Italian law, to it. For example, the Boninsegna court acquittal of Amanda Knox on the charge of calunnia against the police and Mignini became final when the prosecution did not appeal within the legally authorized time limit for appeals.
The prosecution cannot appeal an acquittal pronounced by the CSC, nor can it appeal a (provisional) acquittal from a lower court once the legally authorized time limit for appeals has passed.
Regardless, the entire process is excessive and hardly beneficial to the defendant, which is what Vixen originally claimed. It would be one thing to argue multiple 'sub-trials' benefit the defendant if an acquittal anywhere along the line was definitive, but that's not the case. A 'not guilty' verdict by the Trial or Appellate courts means nothing to the defendant if the prosecution is set to appeal up to Cassation.
I would also like to ask WHY have a trial court if the prosecution can appeal and the Appellate Court will try the case de novo (as Hellmann correctly did). In that case the trial court's conclusions would seem irrelevant and an utter waste of time.