hey, i’m reading through your How Courts Actually Work series of posts and i had a question, sorry if you address this later in the series than i’ve read so far.
what’s the difference between a violation of someone’s rights and a technicality? as far as i’ve seen almost everything i’ve heard of referred to as a technicality seems to be a breach of someone’s rights
Honestly, that seems to be kind of how people refer to it. I think I've made some sarcastic posts in the past that are something along the lines of "he got off on a technicality -- do u mean THE GOVERNMENT VIOLATED HIS RIGHTS?"
The other joke among lawyers of my acquaintance is that the best way to be right is technically, because, technically, you're right.
The only other way I can think of that people might define "technicality" is if they technically didn't commit the crime as defined.
One of my favorites here -- I had a client who was pulled over and patted down by the cops for irrelevant reasons. The officers found a false urine kit all set up and ready to go in his pants. my man was ready 2 go on falsifying a urine screen for, I can't remember, some job application? They charged him with a law that forbade purchase, transport, sale, possession with intent to adulterate a urine screen, human urine. TURNED OUT this was lab-made fake urine, not human urine.
At trial, charge dismissed.
Like, I don't think there's a particular right answer to this question: do you think that's a technicality? Or do you think that means that he didn't do the crime?
Breaking and entering is usually a very complicated set of laws; you can charge someone with breaking and entering a dwelling-house, realty, in the night-time, etc. If you prove that the shed that someone broke into is not affixed to real property (is just On The Ground without a foundation), it might mean a not-guilty on some variation of breaking and entering. Is that a technicality?
Police officer packaged two pipes together, lab tech analyzed them together. Nobody's rights were violated in this. But if the jury/judge believes that the defendant possessed one and not the other, and dismisses because they can't tell if one or the other had the drug residue in it, is that a technicality?
You can really get in the weeds on this one. I think it's fun, but I suspect I shouldn't be trusted on what's fun or not.