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Concordia News: Please Post Here

kingcruiser1

By kingcruiser1,
in Costa Cruises

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SomeBeach

SomeBeach

Posted
Posted

Chengkp, the way I understand it is that Schettino chose not to plea bargain as the others did, including 1 from the Costa office. Schettino's ego leads him to believe he'll be found not guilty because of the incompetence of his staff and design faults of the ship. :rolleyes:

 

According to this article if (when) Schettino is found guilty he will not go to jail immediately as Italian law allows 2 appeals.

 

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/court-told-tsunami-of-evidence-against-costa-skipper-as-verdict-nears/ar-AA9erQC

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chengkp75

chengkp75

Posted
Posted
Chengkp, the way I understand it is that Schettino chose not to plea bargain as the others did, including 1 from the Costa office. Schettino's ego leads him to believe he'll be found not guilty because of the incompetence of his staff and design faults of the ship. :rolleyes:

 

According to this article if (when) Schettino is found guilty he will not go to jail immediately as Italian law allows 2 appeals.

 

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/court-told-tsunami-of-evidence-against-costa-skipper-as-verdict-nears/ar-AA9erQC

 

Yeah, another "twinkie" defense. My only concern is that I know Costa has paid a fine (1 million?), but I hope that the corporation and corporation officers will be able to stand civil cases, 'cause that fine ain't nearly enough.

 

I love his defense that he "steered" the ship to shallow water, when there was no main power, but says that it's not all his fault, because the emergency generator failed as well. Where in the name of God did the power for the steering gear come from? This guy is totally stupid or totally self-delusional, or both.

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SomeBeach

SomeBeach

Posted
Posted

Sidari, yet another article where it's more of the same from Schettino.

 

Chengkp, I believe now Schettino says that he knew the tides and current would get the ship closer to the island where he thought it would be safer to then start evacuations. In other words, when it was pointed out there was no power to do his magic steering of the ship closer to the island, he came up with another story.

 

Getting late in Italy. Thought we'd have the verdict by now.

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SomeBeach

SomeBeach

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Posted
I hear he got 16 years!

 

 

Wow! Between the time I checked for results to making my post and checking again, all of about 5 minutes, the verdict came in.

 

 

When checking in the second time I found this link which is Schettino's final appeal to the judges this morning.

 

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/costa-concordia-captain-francesco-schettino-makes-tearful-plea-trial-n304286

 

The video does have English translation.

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USNUZULOOSE

USNUZULOOSE

Posted
Posted
No the Civil Case is separate from the criminal.

 

Also, as I've posted before, there can be total "do overs" ordered by the appeals court from either a Not Guilty or Guilty verdict. This is not uncommon.

I was going to ask about this but you just answered that for me.

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SomeBeach

SomeBeach

Posted
Posted

Lots of little articles be released but still no breakdown as to how the judges came to their decision.

 

A couple of articles now say his sentence is 16 yrs and 1 month.

Wonder if that 1 month is for abandoning the ship?

 

Another article said he left before the verdict was announced.

 

At some point I guess all the facts related to the verdict will come out.

 

Reading through another I saw that one of his lawyers used this in his defense.

" Schettino's lead lawyer Domenico Pepe began closing arguments Monday, saying the champagne bottle used to christen the ship when it was put into service in 2006 did not break."

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SomeBeach

SomeBeach

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Posted
Heres the one from the BBC in Uk.

I did think he would worm his way out of it

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-31430998

 

32 lives lost and he got 16 years.

6 months per life. What happened to the 32 life sentences he should have got

 

The way the judges broke it down it's not even 6 months per life on the manslaughter charges.

"Prosecutors had sought a 26-year jail term but the court sentenced Schettino to 10 years for multiple manslaughter, five years for causing the shipwreck and one year for abandoning his passengers. "

 

Six of those years are for being an "able idiot."

 

As for the 32 yr life sentences my guess would be the prosecutors most have figured that would not work.

 

Cheng, yeah, he's worried about his dignity and being put through a media meat grinder. I just never see the compassion for those that died. He gives lip service to it, mostly for the little girl, but I just don't see compassion for those that have to deal with the disaster he set in motion.

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bigeck

bigeck

Posted
Posted (edited)
The way the judges broke it down it's not even 6 months per life on the manslaughter charges.

"Prosecutors had sought a 26-year jail term but the court sentenced Schettino to 10 years for multiple manslaughter, five years for causing the shipwreck and one year for abandoning his passengers. "

 

Six of those years are for being an "able idiot."

 

As for the 32 yr life sentences my guess would be the prosecutors most have figured that would not work.

 

Cheng, yeah, he's worried about his dignity and being put through a media meat grinder. I just never see the compassion for those that died. He gives lip service to it, mostly for the little girl, but I just don't see compassion for those that have to deal with the disaster he set in motion.

 

I know the 32yr sentence wouldn't be given out, but that's what he should have gotten.

I don't post a lot now on here but read every day.

I read a few posts back where he can 2 appeals.

Its scary that he might get the 16 reduced.

Edited by bigeck
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chengkp75

chengkp75

Posted
Posted
I know the 32yr sentence wouldn't be given out, but that's what he should have gotten.

I don't post a lot now on here but read every day.

I read a few posts back where he can 2 appeals.

Its scary that he might get the 16 reduced.

 

But there's also the chance that he could get more, on appeal.

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SomeBeach

SomeBeach

Posted
Posted
But there's also the chance that he could get more, on appeal.

 

John, as our legal rep, is what Cheng is saying a part of that "do-over" you mentioned earlier? I know in an appeal a sentence could be reduced or even see the guilty charge dropped but could it increase his sentence?

 

Do you think, just from your experience in court (allowing for this being another country) that the judges message was that he was not fully responsible, ie: taking into consideration the others that plea bargained and/or Costa management itself?

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Uniall

Uniall

Posted
Posted
John, as our legal rep, is what Cheng is saying a part of that "do-over" you mentioned earlier? I know in an appeal a sentence could be reduced or even see the guilty charge dropped but could it increase his sentence?

 

Do you think, just from your experience in court (allowing for this being another country) that the judges message was that he was not fully responsible, ie: taking into consideration the others that plea bargained and/or Costa management itself?

 

Way back on this thread (and the CLOSED earlier thread) I stated my opinion that Schitino would be convicted of negligent homicide (involuntary manslaughter) and dereliction of duty and get 10 to 15 years. Today's sentence would be unusual since the Italian court made the years "consecutive": 10 + 5 + 1 + 16 years.

In the US it would have been "concurrent" serving the 5 and 1 year at the same time of the 10 year sentence.

 

The two level Italian Appeals courts can overturn the guilty finding or increase or reduce the sentence, order a new trial and send it back to the first court or even try it themselves.

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Max49

Max49

Posted
Posted (edited)

Wow, I've been following this for more than 3 years and it is finally over. Well, it's taken so long, I imagine it may take 16 years for him to appeal this twice.

Could his sentence be increased by the appeals or does he have nothing to lose by appealing?

I believe that here in the US if someone was sentenced to 16 years, they could be paroled after 5 years or so with good behavior, blah blah blah. Is this correct and is it like this in Italy also?

Will he be partying and relaxing at the beach ,or in jail, or under house arrest while he appeals this?

Is he footing his own attorney costs?

 

Any ways, guys, I want to share something with you all. My wife and I are going on our very first cruise ever in 3 days, On Feb 15 we will sail out of Houston on Emerald Princess to Roatan, Belieze and Cozumel for 7 days.

Our son and daughter pitched in to give us this cruise for our 30th anniversary.

It's rather odd but I never was interested in taking a cruise until I started following the Concordia / Schettino disaster right here on CC and my kids knew I had put a cruise in our bucket list.

:D Now I'm also following the Emerald Princess Roll Call.

We're really excited but I know those 7 days are going to go way too fast.

 

I'm sure I will be here also getting all my links and news on captain coward's appeals.

Edited by Max49
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SomeBeach

SomeBeach

Posted
Posted

Max, congrats on taking your first cruise and your anniversary. I've cruised with Princess several times but not on the Emerald. That aside, I've enjoyed all my cruises with them.

 

From what I've read the judges didn't think he was a flight risk so he doesn't have restrictions whilst he goes through appeals. I imagine, as he had not leaving the country during the lead up to and the trial itself, he may still have that one.

To the best of my knowledge he has to pay for his legal bills. I expect he'll be back on the media circuit soon.

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sidari

sidari

Posted
Posted

So he stays out of jail for the time being so that an appeal/s can be heard, in the UK you go to jail and try to appeal if the courts allow you to! seems an odd system in Italy to me.

 

You have to wonder how long it will take to get the appeal to court and then how long it will take for a decision and then for a second appeal and so on, a few more years no doubt will have gone by and the possibility of a lower jail term.

 

Also in the UK the length of time you are held pre trial is taken into account and taken off the jail time given, will that happen in this case also ? Time will tell.

 

Max .. Enjoy the cruise, never been on the Emerald but have been on Ruby twice and had a great time on both occasions.

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bigeck

bigeck

Posted
Posted
This article claims the Coward has been banned from commanding a ship for 5 yrs. That should be about the time he starts his sentence with the way the courts work.

 

http://www.wsj.com/articles/costa-corcordia-captain-found-guilty-1423673970?mod=WSJ_hpp_sections_world

 

Not bad being put up in a hotel for that length of time.

The time that takes and if he gets out early for good behaviour, he might end up serving less than half

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