Good point about not being pardonable, but they can be appealed (and will be of course). As for not resulting in criminal liability - technically the judge or prosecuting attorney can't hand down criminal charges BUT the evidence from the trial can be used for prosecutors to criminally charge outside of the civil trial. I'm not a lawyer but I would guess verified evidence presented under oath in a civil trial would be some pretty good evidence and a criminal trial can use that as well as testimony/results from the civil trial.
The big picture as I understand it is a civil trial only requires a preponderance of evidence (%51 likely) versus a criminal trial requiring beyond a reasonable doubt (like %98 or higher likelihood). Civil == easier to introduce evidence and the bar is much lower to win.
The interesting thing (I think) will be to see how much of a defense the DS puts up, knowing that if they lose civilly they lose a ton of money but didn't divulge much of the evidence that could've gotten them more criminal charges as a result. I don't see a bunch of people flipping until this thing goes criminal. Once charges are filed I think people will be giving up wives and mothers for life sentences instead of death. Maybe even asking for a corner cell with a window.
Good point about not being pardonable, but they can be appealed (and will be of course). As for not resulting in criminal liability - technically the judge or prosecuting attorney can't hand down criminal charges BUT the evidence from the trial can be used for prosecutors to criminally charge outside of the civil trial. I'm not a lawyer but I would guess verified evidence presented under oath in a civil trial would be some pretty good evidence and a criminal trial can use that as well as testimony/results from the civil trial.
The big picture as I understand it is a civil trial only requires a preponderance of evidence (%51 likely) versus a criminal trial requiring beyond a reasonable doubt (like %98 or higher likelihood). Civil == easier to introduce evidence and the bar is much lower to win.
The interesting thing (I think) will be to see how much of a defense the DS puts up, knowing that if they lose civilly they lose a ton of money but didn't divulge much of the evidence that could've gotten them more criminal charges as a result. I don't see a bunch of people flipping until this thing goes criminal. Once charges are filed I think people will be giving up wives and mothers for life sentences instead of death. Maybe even asking for a corner cell with a window.