somekindarobot said:
Five years awaiting conviction? I guess the French constitution doesn't have the right to a speedy trial like ours does. I guess all the lawyers were on vacation. They must have figured he wasn't going anywhere. Ha!
It actually has to do with a difference between the French and the American judicial system.
There are two main types of Judicial systems, the Adversarial System, and the Inquisitorial system. American uses the Adversarial system, and France uses the Inquisitorial system.
To put it in the simplest way possible, under the Inquisitorial system, the case is investigated, and evidence examined, and all that good stuff before the trial begins. The case doesn't go to trial until the judge is convinced that the accused is guilty. Basically, trials in France are roughly equivalent to the "Closing Arguments" and the "Sentencing" phase of the system that you know. If a case goes to trial in France, a conviction is almost guaranteed. Trials in France are EXTREMELY swift, and usually don't last more than an hour or so.
So to put it in perspective, it's closer to under the American system, a court case when has been dragged out for many years, as an example, the OJ Simpson trial, which lasted over 3 years.
