Thread: Spouse of U.S. diplomat in deadly car crash leaves UK, prompting outcry

Originally Posted by panama hat

Down, Fido . . . she could also have simply been employed as a secretary

But apparently she wasn't.

Originally Posted by russellsimpson

I suppose if the Americans won't extradite then the Brits could play tit for tat

I think you'll find the Brits were at least aware she was doing a runner.

The rest is all bluster.

Originally Posted by harrybarracuda

I think you'll find the Brits were at least aware she was doing a runner.

The rest is all bluster.

Something like that, the US says she's leaving so clear the way, and now it's in the Brit court.

Anything in the Brit court won't be lobbed back till it's over and everyone's gone home.

Harry Dunn death: Johnson and Biden discuss virtual trial for US diplomat’s wife

Idea being pursued by Dominic Raab might allow Anne Sacoolas to face punishment in US

Britain is pressing for the wife of a US diplomat to go on virtual trial over the death of Harry Dunn, who was killed when a car crashed into his motorbike outside a US military base in Northamptonshire two years ago.

The idea of a virtual trial – possibly allowing Anne Sacoolas to face some form of punishment in the US and not be extradited back to the UK – is being pursued by the UK foreign secretary, Dominic Raab. The solution was proposed at a meeting on Thursday between the prime minister Boris Johnson and the US president Joe Biden.

The virtual trial proposal was greeted as a huge development by Radd Seiger, the lawyer for the family of Harry Dunn.

Raab referred to either a virtual trial or process, so it is not clear that the outcome would lead to Sacoolas facing a possible jail sentence in either the UK or the US, something she has resisted. She has been charged with causing death by dangerous driving, but the US embassy pleaded she had diplomatic immunity, taking her and her family out of the US days after the crash without informing Northamptonshire police.

The lawyer for Sacoolas, Amy Jeffress, has previously said Sacoolas is willing to do community service in the US and pay compensation.

She has added that since the charge pending in Britain against Sacoolas would not usually result in a prison sentence in the US, her client – who has children of her own and is believed to have had a career in intelligence – was not inclined to return to the UK to face trial.

Sacoolas has also apologised, saying it was an innocent tragedy caused by her driving on the wrong side of the road due to being in the UK for only a few weeks. She stayed at the scene of the accident and cooperated with the police.

Johnson said on Thursday Biden was “actively engaged” and “extremely sympathetic” about the case after a face-to-face meeting at the G7 summit in Cornwall this week. Biden’s own family has been struck by a terrible tragedy involving a car accident.

Raab told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “The US has not agreed to the extradition, but the path is clear for the legal authorities in the UK to approach Anne Sacoolas’s lawyers – without any problem from the US government – to see whether some kind of virtual trial or process could allow some accountability and some solace and some justice for the Dunn family.

“I would like to see some accountability. I think the family deserves no less.”

There will, however, be different expectations between the Dunn family and the Sacoolas lawyers about what form of retribution or punishment she should face. An extradition request was rejected by the US state department in January 2020, and the Biden administration said it would not change this final decision.

Seiger said: “This campaign has never been about vengeance and retribution, but about accountability for the loss of their totally innocent son. That is what any of us would want, and that is what must now be delivered. There must be meaningful justice.”.

Seiger also stressed that it would be the Crown Prosecution Service approaching Sacoolas lawyers about the next steps in the criminal case. He said the family was hugely grateful for the politicians making this happen.

Biden’s first wife and daughter were killed in a car crash in 1972, while his sons Beau and Hunter survived.

Speaking after the meeting of Biden and the prime minister in Cornwall, Dunn’s mother, Charlotte Charles, said: “We are incredibly grateful that Harry’s case is being taken so seriously as to be raised on the eve of the G7 meeting with so many worldwide crises going on.

She was sharply critical of the way in which President Trump, without warning, arranged a meeting with the Dunn family at the White House, and then tried to spring an immediate reconciliation meeting between the family and Sacoolas, who was made to wait in an adjoining room.

“We have been working incredibly hard behind the scenes having dialogue with as many people on both sides of the Atlantic as possible and believe that these efforts will help us in our search for justice.

"It is almost two years since we lost Harry in August 2019 and it would be lovely to think that all parties can now come together to help bring this living nightmare to an end so that we can try to rebuild our shattered lives.”

After discussing the matter with Biden, Johnson told the BBC: “As you know, he has his own personal reasons for feeling very deeply about the issue.

“And he was extremely sympathetic, but this is not something that either government can control very easily because there are legal processes that are still going on.”

The Dunn family has pursued every legal avenue to bring Sacoolas to justice, including a judicial review to show that the UK Foreign Office was wrong to think that as the wife of a serving US intelligence officer at RAF Broughton she had diplomatic immunity at the time of the crash. The case is due to go to the court of appeal next year.

Charles and Dunn’s father, Tim Dunn, have also brought a civil claim for unspecified damages against Sacoolas and her husband in the US state of Virginia. It would represent a complex compromise if a formal UK legal process occurred virtually, and then the sentence was served in the US.

Harry Dunn death: Johnson and Biden discuss virtual trial for US diplomat’s wife | UK news | The Guardian

Let's face it, in the UK she probably would have been convicted of careless or dangerous driving, a big fine and a ban, maybe a suspended prison sentence.

She wasn't speeding or drunk.

They might as well try her in absentia; she could pay the fine by bank transfer and send her license over (if it's still valid).

Case closed.

Can't believe they are still dragging this shit out.

Originally Posted by harrybarracuda

She wasn't speeding or drunk.

harry knows it all...

The virtual trial idea has merit.

Anything to bring an end to this mess.