Dead Man Convicting
Apr. 7th, 2008 10:34 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
khaosworksDead man jailed
Which leads me to a story. Back when I was in the Army (1988-1991), I was in charge of the computers for mobilization exercises, when reservists would be recalled back to their units as a rehearsal for times of war. These were mostly what we called "technical recalls", i.e. they'd come in, sign their names and go. The idea was just to see how quickly we could call the units in. My job was basically to set up the computers and tick off their names as they came in. The whole exercise was meant to conclude in twelve hours. In practice, most reservists came in within three to six hours of mobilization.
In this particular recall, we were pretty much done by hour four or so... except for one guy. We tried calling his number but got no answer. Tried calling his platoon mates, but they couldn't track him down either. So we were stuck there waiting and waiting, and wondering where the hell he was. At about hour seven, our staff sergeant strolls in and asks us to pack up. I tell her that we can't, we're still waiting for this one guy. She looks askance at me, and asks me who it is. I tell her. She thinks for a second and then says, "Oh, him. He's not coming."
"Why not?"
"He's dead."
Collective groans from the rest of us. The paperwork had come in the week or so before but it hadn't been processed yet so the database hadn't been updated. As far as the computers were concerned, our man was still in the land of the living.
On the way back to the camp, of course, I was imagining this corpse digging its way out of the grave (or reconstituting itself from ashes in an urn as the case may be), lumbering up to our counter, cursing and grumbling in Hokkien, "Kan ni na, ai koon ah buay sai... (translation: *expletive* Can't even sleep when I want to)"
A Belgian judge has sentenced a dead man to eight months in prison and a £430 fine.Belgium is under a civil law system, I believe. I'm not sure about other common law jurisdictions, but under Singapore law you can be convicted of a crime in absentia but you can't be sentenced, so this mildly bizarre situation wouldn't sound as bad.
Joey Van den Broeck, 21, had been charged with assaulting his girlfriend and resisting arrest.
But he subsequently died in hospital in Antwerp after a road crash in Merksem, reports GVA.
A spokesman for Antwerp court said: "Unfortunately, he had been summoned to appear in court shortly before for beating up his girlfriend.
"When he didn't show up, the case went ahead without him. We didn't know about his death or the case would have expired."
Which leads me to a story. Back when I was in the Army (1988-1991), I was in charge of the computers for mobilization exercises, when reservists would be recalled back to their units as a rehearsal for times of war. These were mostly what we called "technical recalls", i.e. they'd come in, sign their names and go. The idea was just to see how quickly we could call the units in. My job was basically to set up the computers and tick off their names as they came in. The whole exercise was meant to conclude in twelve hours. In practice, most reservists came in within three to six hours of mobilization.
In this particular recall, we were pretty much done by hour four or so... except for one guy. We tried calling his number but got no answer. Tried calling his platoon mates, but they couldn't track him down either. So we were stuck there waiting and waiting, and wondering where the hell he was. At about hour seven, our staff sergeant strolls in and asks us to pack up. I tell her that we can't, we're still waiting for this one guy. She looks askance at me, and asks me who it is. I tell her. She thinks for a second and then says, "Oh, him. He's not coming."
"Why not?"
"He's dead."
Collective groans from the rest of us. The paperwork had come in the week or so before but it hadn't been processed yet so the database hadn't been updated. As far as the computers were concerned, our man was still in the land of the living.
On the way back to the camp, of course, I was imagining this corpse digging its way out of the grave (or reconstituting itself from ashes in an urn as the case may be), lumbering up to our counter, cursing and grumbling in Hokkien, "Kan ni na, ai koon ah buay sai... (translation: *expletive* Can't even sleep when I want to)"
