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A comment on Town Seized Building, Offered to Return It If Owners Bought Two Cars for Police. Parent comment

Re:Town Seized Building, Offered to Return It If Owners Boug... by Hello71 on Friday May 20, 2022 @11:28AM (#31448787)
> It was almost impossible to prosecute a ship owner who lived across the ocean in Europe, so simply seizing a ship and its smuggled goods was a viable alternative.

why not? prosecute them normally, if they show up then the trial proceeds as usual, if not then convict them in absentia and then forfeit the goods. why does this require a whole new system that bypasses all the constitutional rights for domestic citizens?

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Town Seized Building, Offered to Return It If Owners Boug... by colejohnson66 on Friday May 20, 2022 @12:36PM (#31449721)
Because the US does not do "in absentia" trials. It's why Snowden has never been convicted; he fled before he could be charged. And now that he's gone, the US can't do anything if Russia won't extradite him.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Town Seized Building, Offered to Return It If Owners Boug... by NovemberWhiskey on Friday May 20, 2022 @12:30PM (#31449631)
In absentia criminal trials are almost unheard of in the U.S. as a result of the due process requirements in the Fifth, Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments.
[ Parent | on HN ]