'He Had Done Absolutely Nothing Wrong': Mike Lee Decries Imprisonment Of US Naval Officer in Japan

[basquebromance]

US Naval officer imprisoned in Japan...terrible! Japan, not North Korea, not China!

 

[Auld Phart]

He broke local law.

Do the crime, do the time

 

[Woodznutz]

Very revealing.

 

[para bellum]

Mt Fuji is over 12,000 ft, which is above the level that pilots are required to use oxygen. I don't know how long they stayed up there, but the Navy said he blacked out from altitude sickness. His family said they could not wake him, even after the accident.

The prosecutor and judge said he was drowsy and should have pulled over, and for that they convicted him of neg driving and gave him 3 years.

Whatever this is, it's not a US serviceman who intentionally broke the law in Japan. It's a guy who lost consciousness behind the wheel.

 

[Harpy Eagle]

Mt Fuji is over 12,000 ft, which is above the level that pilots are required to use oxygen. I don't know how long they stayed up there, but the Navy said he blacked out from altitude sickness. His family said they could not wake him, even after the accident.

The prosecutor and judge said he was drowsy and should have pulled over, and for that they convicted him of neg driving and gave him 3 years.

Whatever this is, it's not a US serviceman who intentionally broke the law in Japan. It's a guy who lost consciousness behind the wheel.

Japan has very different traffic laws than the US. Everything has a "percent" fault for the people involved. In the US if you get rear-ended it is 99.9% going to be blamed on the person that hit you. In Japan they might find 30% fault with the one hit and 70% with the one doing the hitting.

 

[whitehall]

Once more it seems that Americans assume that the Bill of Rights we enjoy only in the U.S. extends to other countries. The basketball babe in Russia complained that she was not advised of her rights but there is no 5th Amendment in Russia. Same goes for Japan. Be careful in foreign countries.

 

[Flash]

The report that I read also said that the Prosecutor had family ties to the people that were killed.

That would explain why they went after jail time instead of letting it go as an unfortunate accident.

The same article said that in Japan once you go to court there is a 99% chance you will be convicted of something.

Not the same justice system as we have in the US,