Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1999/09/06
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Marc James Small wrote: > > At 12:33 PM 9/6/1999 -0700, Mark Rabiner wrote: > >"Paparazzi cleared in Diana's death" was a headline Saturday. As a > professional > >photographer I find the lifting of the burden of that stigma a great relief. > > Mark > > It wasn't that they were "cleared": the French judge just determined there > was insufficient evidence to proceed further, one of the healthier aspects > of the Civil Law system. > > In other words, these dudes MIGHT be guilty, but the State determined they > couldn't be certain of a conviction, so they dropped the charges. > > Marc > > msmall@roanoke.infi.net FAX: +540/343-7315 > Cha robh bas fir gun ghras fir! This particular article by Charles Trueheart of the LA Times-Washington Post Service doesn't mention insufficient evidence & puts the blame of her Death squarely on the shoulders of the driver. "in a state of drunkenness and under medications incompatible with alcohol." " A Paris prosecutor charged with the case, Maud Coujard, said as much in her recommendation to the investigations magistrates two weeks ago. The facts and conclusions, fed by leaks from Paris police and prosecutors, have been published often in the news media during the past two years." "In France, a decision to drop charges is almost never reversed." "The investigation magistrates did reproach the nine photographers and the motercycle driver for snapping pictures of a dazed Diana - she was pronounced dead in a hospital at 4 A.m. - and other victims. "That response was "unanimously and severely condemned" by eyewitnesses on the scene, the magistrates said. The photographers' actions, Stephan and Devidal said, raises "ethical and moral" Questions for them and their employers - photo agencies and client magazines. It did not constitute a crimes." I guess the photographers were booed by bystanders and that holds some weight in this French Court. I can't picture anything stopping a press photographer shooting a photo of one of the most famous people on the planet dying right in front of them especially after they risked their own lives to make sure this person never left their sight. I call this a compromise by the magistrates under unprecedented public opinion. Mark Rabiner