You be the judge (sentencing)

A couple of, probably quite clumsy analogies...

Can one be prosecuted for possessing, in the past, a substance that has since become illegal?

Can one be found guilty of a charge of assault but sentenced in light of the fact that one is accused but not prosecuted for a murder under similar circumstances?

I assume the answer to both should be no? but...
 
3point14 said:
A couple of, probably quite clumsy analogies...

Can one be prosecuted for possessing, in the past, a substance that has since become illegal?
Click to expand...

Since the laws he was prosecuted for violating existed when he committed the crimes, this would seem to be a poor analogy.
 
3point14 said:
A couple of, probably quite clumsy analogies...

Can one be prosecuted for possessing, in the past, a substance that has since become illegal?
Click to expand...
Generally not in common law jurisdictions. Of course gven that sexual assault was illegal when Clifford carried out the offences I fail to see any analogy
3point14 said:
Can one be found guilty of a charge of assault but sentenced in light of the fact that one is accused but not prosecuted for a murder under similar circumstances?
Click to expand...
Also generally no.
 
MikeG said:
In the case of the PR man, I am going to take the unusual step of saying that I think the judge got it about right. The balance between punishing a paedophile, and keeping a now-harmless old man in prison, is a fine one, in my view. Those who haven't should read the full judgement, which apart from a couple of bits of really poor English, is a real eye-opener.
Click to expand...

Yes.

And newspaper reports described Clifford as showing contempt for the process - making "joky" threats during the case and mimicking a sky reporter on the courtroom steps.

The judge gave the harshest sentence he could and - I also think it's almost inevitable that Clifford will have got away with far more than the offences reported.

Still there is a chance of him being charged for other offenses now, and I hope they will be consecutive too.
 
jimbob said:
And newspaper reports described Clifford as showing contempt for the process - making "joky" threats during the case and mimicking a sky reporter on the courtroom steps.
Click to expand...
And what about this makes you think he wasn't taking the case seriously?
 
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