Word: trials
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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...cover and subsidiary articles. In Nation, Senior Editor Jason McManus assigned the main account of the tragedy to Ed Magnuson, while Peter Stoler and Keith Johnson wrote related stories. Senior Editor Robert Shnayerson and Law Writer Howard Muson dealt with the legal dilemmas involved in bringing the men to trial, and Senior Editor John Elson wrote the Essay on the profound questions of good and evil raised by the tragedy. In addition, Press Writer Ted Bolwell discussed who first broke the story...
Unless those men retain military links, such as reserve status, they may be immune from prosecution. In 1955, the Supreme Court ruled that civilians cannot be court-martialed for crimes they committed during military service. The court did suggest a remedy: new laws could provide for trial in federal courts of ex-servicemen charged with military crimes. So far, Congress has not enacted the necessary legislation. Nor can the Saigon government prosecute the discharged My Lai participants-even if it wanted to. An agreement signed by the U.S. and South Viet Nam prevents each country from trying nationals...
...confront the Army in its case against Lieut. Calley and Sgt. Mitchell, the only active servicemen thus far accused of crimes at My Lai. For one thing, Army lawyers fear that detailed press interviews with potential witnesses may permit the accused to claim that they cannot get a fair trial. Almost surely, moreover, both Calley and Mitchell will argue at their trials that they acted under "superior orders," a legal defense that gained respectability in the 19th century when military officers extolled iron regimentation and insisted that superiors could do no wrong...
...world wars changed all that. The Nurnberg Trial of 22 Nazi leaders after World War II revived one of the great tenets of Western thought: that a higher law sometimes requires men to give their primary allegiance to humanity rather than the State. Although the Nazi defendants pleaded "state orders," 19 were convicted and ten were hanged. To skeptics, Nurnberg proved mainly that losing a war had become a crime under international law. Nevertheless, the supremacy of civilized rules of behavior was enunciated in a U.N. report: "The fact that a person acted pursuant to order of his government...
...Weatherman said that Paradise is still being held in protective custody, and has been beaten by police since the trial. Police refused comment...