Is A Red Notice In The Offing? Testing Relationship Between Prime Minister And President

Is A Red Notice In The Offing?

How To Define Justice?

Testing Relationship Between Prime Minister And President

Can Everyone “Let It Go”?

On 27 August 2019, Mrs. Anne Sacoolas, the forty-two-year-old wife of an employee of the United States government was involved in a traffic accident resulting in the death of nineteen-year-old Mr. Harry Dunn. 

Mrs. Sacoolas cooperated initially, then departed the United Kingdom on 15 September 2019 for the United States.  The Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO) was informed on 13 September 2019 that the United States would not waive diplomatic immunity; and the FCO was informed in advance that Mrs. Sacoolas would be departing the United Kingdom.  The FCO did not impede her departure.

The Dunn family remains unlikely to suffer quietly and not seek accountability- on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean. 

During a visit to Washington DC, the parents and their attorney demonstrated an ability to connect impressively and passionately with television, radio and print media.  Their 16 October 2019 visit to The White House was an optical disaster for the Trump Administration. 

As a result, there will be stress upon the bilateral relationship between the United States and the United Kingdom. 

There is potential for a fracture if the Prime Minister Johnson is perceived as impotent towards obtaining justice against the individual responsible for a young man’s death- particularly when the narrative for the cause of the accident was driving in clear weather on the wrong side of a road.

The often referenced two hundred-plus year “special relationship” between the United States and the United Kingdom has limitations. 

Thus far, reporting suggests The Honorable Donald J. Trump, President of the United States; The Honorable Mike Pompeo, United States Secretary of State; and The Honorable William Barr, United States Attorney General have dismissed official overtures and unofficial overtures from The Honorable Boris Johnson, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom; The Honorable Dominic Raab, First Secretary of State and Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs of the United Kingdom; and The Rt Honorable Robert Buckland QC, Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice of the United Kingdom. 

For the Prime Minister, a force of effort towards the President is fraught with what should be unrelated consequences.  Justice for a dead child should be justice for a dead child; grieving parents should be afforded emotional closure.   

Absent a domestically-defined victory, Prime Minister Johnson risks a loss of domestic muscularity and incurring a domestic humiliation.  What linguistic gymnastics could he use to explain away the reason(s) someone causing the death of another is immune from prosecution due to provisions in the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations enacted in 1961- three years before the Prime Minister was born?    

The United Kingdom seeks a bilateral trade agreement with the United States.  There are already United States tariffs on single malt Scotch whisky and Irish whisky.  There exist numerous other bilateral issues to be targeted.   

The United Kingdom appreciates the transactional nature of the President and the sometimes-concurrent decisions of the President which negatively impact, momentarily or permanently, both friend and foe.  The United Kingdom may require the assistance of the United States in yet unknown matters.  

The President will not want to be perceived as neither weak nor enthusiastic about establishing precedent potentially impacting United States government personnel throughout the world.  However, the President needs to demonstrate empathy and acknowledge that justice for a wrong is deserved.  The location of the accident was in a peer country and one where The Trump Organization has commercial operations.  The President may require the assistance of the United Kingdom in yet unknown matters.  Might the United States government offer a monetary settlement to the Dunn family in lieu of criminal charges against Mrs. Sacoolas?   

Current Status: The government of the United States has declared Mrs. Sacoolas had diplomatic immunity at the time of the accident and is unbound by any action of the United Kingdom. 

Potential Outcomes? 

Mrs. Sacoolas does not return to the United Kingdom and no criminal case is filed with a court in the United Kingdom. 

The Dunn family files a civil action in the United Kingdom and in the United States seeking damages on behalf of the victim.  There will be issues of jurisdiction for United States courts. 

Mrs. Sacoolas does not return to the United Kingdom, but is criminally charged, declared a fugitive, found guilty, and sentenced in absentia. 

The Dunn family obtains support from the Crown Prosecution Services and Scotland Yard to request Lyon, France-based International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) issue a Red Notice for Mrs. Sacoolas requesting “law enforcement worldwide to locate and provisionally arrest a person pending extradition, surrender, or similar legal action.”  LINK: https://www.interpol.int/en/How-we-work/Notices/Red-Notices 

Mrs. Sacoolas refuses to voluntarily return to the United Kingdom and challenges in United States courts any effort to extradite her to the United Kingdom. 

The governments of the United States and United Kingdom agree that Mrs. Sacoolas returns to the United Kingdom, waives diplomatic immunity, accepts whatever sentence is imposed by the court and serves the sentence in the United Kingdom. 

The governments of the United States and United Kingdom agree that Mrs. Sacoolas returns to the United Kingdom, waives diplomatic immunity, accepts whatever sentence is imposed by the court, and returns to the United States to serve the sentence. 

The governments of the United States and United Kingdom agree that Mrs. Sacoolas returns to the United Kingdom, waives diplomatic immunity, accepts whatever sentence is imposed by the court; by agreement in advance, the sentence is suspended, and Mrs. Sacoolas returns to the United States.  No prison time.

UPDATE NOTE: On 9 January 2020, the Home Office of the United Kingdom formally submitted to the United States Department of State a request for Mrs. Sacoolas to be extradited from the United States to the United Kingdom.