There was a remarkable drug case in Bangkok in the late 70s. An American fellow, I believe in his 40s, was caught leaving Don Muang Airport with something like 700-1,000 grams of heroin concealed in his luggage.
When the case came to trial, the defendant, who had a Thai lawyer, also had the services of a U.S. Attorney that the family had sent over to Bangkok. Though not licensed to represent a defendant in Thailand, the tribunal allowed the lawyer to address the court prior to sentencing.
In his address to the 3-judge panel, the American lawyer raised the defense of “diminished capacity”, which is a legal term in U.S. law. When asked to explain Diminished Capacity, the lawyer stated that, although the defendant had, indeed, attempted to smuggle heroin out of Thailand, he was not really capable of knowlingly committing the crime because he was depressed, having personal problems, etc, etc.
When the judge asked the interpreter to translate into Thai, the interpretation was basically: “He did it, but he didn’t do it”.
The chief judge looked at the interpretor, looked at the lawyer, scratched his head, then stated, "We would like to thank the distinguished American lawyer for coming to Thailand and explaining this important legal principle to us.” We are indeed grateful.”
The judge then turned to the defendant,“You - 75 years”.
At this, the Thai defense attorney and the prosecutor spoke up and informed the judges that the defendant had provided cooperation to Thai and U.S. authorities that had resulted in arrests and prosecutions in the U.S.
At this, the judge said, “Oh, why didn’t you say so before? … 50 years.
No comments:
Post a Comment