• grabyourmotherskeys@lemmy.world
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      9 months ago

      A pardon is essentially that. But only literally in the case of a conviction. You can issue blanket pardons which basically say “if you did something, you are pardoned”. These do not have the direct acknowledgement of guilt but it’s obviously heavily implied.

      • protist@mander.xyz
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        9 months ago

        These don’t side-step prosecution though, just the sentence if found guilty, correct?

        • LufyCZ@lemmy.world
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          9 months ago

          Well don’t think there’s a point prosecuting someone (i.e. spending insane amounts of taxpayer money) if, in the end, you achieve “nothing”, in terms of punishment.

          There might still be indirect punishment in terms of a hit to public image but eh

          • AdamEatsAss@lemmy.world
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            9 months ago

            I feel like in a high profile case like this the prosecutor would still want to prosecute. If for nothing more than to help make a name for themselves. Of course it’s likely that some funding for such a trial would be taken away after the pardon was issued. It would be an interesting states rights issue though. Can a president pardon someone for a state level crime? I think the consensus is no, but I’m not a lawyer so I wouldn’t really know.