Lawyertalk is back with all sorts of content coming your way

>> Steve Palmer: All right, look, Mortimer, we're back. Anybody who remembers trading places remembers Lawyer Talk Off The Record, on the air. We are back, uh, and back with a vengeance, um, with all sorts of content coming your way, uh, not the least of which is q and a question and answer for those who don't know Q and a. Uh, this was maybe the most popular segment, uh, of Lawyer Talk that we had, but we're also bringing you some other. The stuff you've come to enjoy. The breakdowns, those, uh, who remember we did a pretty good breakdown of the Kyle Rittenhouse trial and some other, uh, sort of big events, and I'm going to continue to do that. And, you know, a few years ago, I decided that the legal commentary on tv and sort of the legacy mainstream Media, uh, sucked. So I thought, you know what? I can do that, and I can do it right here at channel 511 in our studios with Lawyer Talk. So that's the breakdown series. Uh, and then, you know, maybe some other stuff coming your way. The typical interviews. I've got some attorneys coming in to, uh, in a few weeks, uh, who have been great guests in the past. So we're going to keep doing it. So, uh, without further ado, we're going to get to the first question we have.

Can foreign countries prosecute crimes on behalf of the United States?

So, look, we are back as of last week, and now we've already got a question, uh, and I'm going to answer it. And I'm going to answer it right, uh, here, right now, today. The question is, can federal. Can our government prosecute crimes on behalf of other foreign countries, and then vice versa. Can foreign countries prosecute crimes on behalf of the United States? I'm going to give you the typical lawyer answer. I have no idea. I don't know for sure, uh, how that works. If there ever is a situation where the United States would take up, uh, the cause of, uh, say, France, if some citizen in France committed, uh, a crime. But I'll do what lawyers typically do. I'll give you a little slight of hand here, and I'm going to shift the answer, because I think really what we're getting at here is something called extraterritorial jurisdiction, where maybe a United States citizen commits a crime in another country. The question then becomes, can the United States prosecute that person? Uh, and then I guess the other question would be, can the other country prosecute that person? Well, the answer is yes, no, maybe on both. Let's start with the other country. Um, we've all heard of the big stories where, uh, I forget the basketball player's name, but whatever her name was, she was in Russia. Uh, and she got caught with some dope, and she was held in jail until we cut some deal or whatever it was. But, yeah, she was clearly prosecuted for drug offenses in the other country, and those offenses probably, or that her acts may not have been a crime in the United States. So, you know, just because you're a United States citizen doesn't mean that you're immune from committing crimes in other countries. Um, and then the opposite is also true. Sometimes the United States government can prosecute citizens. Um, it's our own citizens in other countries, so. But this is not always the case there. So imagine this scenario where you go to Amsterdam and you indulge in the local flavor, which is hashish, cocaine, all the drugs. It's sort of like a. A, um, I don't know, a bazaar of smorgasbord, ah, rather of drugs and red, uh, light and fun. Uh, so you engage in all those behaviors and conduct, none, uh, of which you would be permitted to do, maybe in your home State, uh, here in Ohio, but you do it anyway over there. Can the United States government or even Ohio prosecute you? The answer is no. Generally not. Uh, you're fine because you're not within the territorial jurisdiction. There are, however, exceptions. And the exceptions are basically these. First, when Congress says you can be prosecuted for other crimes, even though you're out of. Out of our United States territory, and you would say, well, when is that? Well, think in terms of like, um, maybe child, ah, related kidnapping crimes, or think in terms of financial crimes. So if you go down to the Caymans, you're hiding a bunch of money, or you defraud somebody in China, uh, with financial crimes, those statutes generally will say that you can be prosecuted in the United States for those acts. And, you know, if you commit fraud on another United States citizen while you're out of the country, it doesn't mean you get a pass for it. We can prosecute you here. Those are specifically addressed in the United States code. Uh, and, you know, you might even consider, uh, other acts committed, say, a State court, other acts committed in, um, you know, another country, uh, that is part and parcel to the crime you also committed in your home State. So, uh, typically, this works also. County by county, State by State, any. If you. I deal with these kind of things all the Time. Somebody commits a crime that sort of spans various counties within Ohio or even states within the country, Ohio can maintain jurisdiction over all of it, and sometimes the other county or country can, too. And a lot of times what I'm trying to do is sort of get all the prosecutors on board and say, all right, we all, you all want a chunk of this guy, let's at least just take the chunk here in Ohio so we don't have to go to various places to get flogged. But, um, so sometimes the states can prosecute overseas, uh, too, if one of the acts of part and parcel with their crime here in the state was committed overseas. Um, so the first category is, it's expressly permitted by Congress. The second category is, it's implied. There are certain times when it's just implied that the United States will have jurisdiction. Think like war crimes, maybe, or, you know, terrorism or, uh, espionage. You know, things that are so bad that you would just think the United States should have jurisdiction. So if you commit a crime like that overseas, you can be prosecuted here. Uh, and then, you know, part and parcel to all this is another complicated discussion I'm not going to go into that has to do with extradition and sending people back overseas to get prosecuted or bringing people here to get prosecuted. I'm working on a case right now where it's an. It's, uh, not a United States citizen. Uh, there are crimes alleged against him here in the United States, and there's all sorts of questions about, uh, what the punishment can be, whether even after he's sentenced here in the United States, he can, he should be sent over immediately, uh, to his home country. I'm not going to offer any details, uh, because I don't want to give up the ghost on this. But anyway, uh, that's another complicated question. I'm researching it in that case, and all I can tell you is it seems to be a bottomless pit of research. So it's beyond the scope of what I'm doing here. And then finally, I think we should address one other thing, and that's called the international criminal court. The international criminal court is there, and, you know, there, there are all sorts of reasons, uh, for the international criminal court. I don't think any of them, or I don't think the international criminal court, uh, is going to give you near the protection and the constitutional rights as the United States, even though it says it might, uh. And if you want to do a deep dive in the international criminal court, uh, go take a peek. But generally think war crimes, crimes, uh, against humanity, things that, um, I, uh, mean, show trial. I mean, things that you would, uh, that you might think the international criminal court would get involved in. The United States does not always play nicely on, uh, my quick research showed. So, uh, I will, uh, sort of footnote all of this before I wrap up this q and a with, uh, the following. I am no expert in any of these topics. These are complicated areas of law. And I appreciate the question. I mean, really great question. And it enabled me to do a little bit of a deep dive into a topic that I sort of know about, but not completely. Um, I will also tell you that there is a. I have a colleague, a colleague up in Michigan, who, believe it or not, is, I don't know if the expert is the right word, but is certainly knowledgeable about these things, and I'm going to reach out to him. I'm going to get some additional answers on this. I might even have him loop, uh, in, um, as a guest here so I can do a quick interview about some of these topics, because, again, these get pretty complex. So with that, I hope I answered your question. It's the first one out of the shoots, uh, after only dropping lawyer, uh talk or coming back with Lawyer Talk for the first Time. Um, there's a few more in the can here I'm going to get to, so stay, uh, tuned. Uh, and I do appreciate it. If you want to check out Lawyer Talk podcast, just go to Lawyer Talk podcast, lawyertalkpodcast.com, comma, a great backlog of episodes, all the current episodes, uh, and much, much, much more to come. Lawyertalkpodcast, uh.com well, until the next time I am signing off, this is lawyertalk off the record, but on the air, at least until now.