Carlo Parlanti - USA

February 06

Update as of June 2007:

In December 2005 Carlo Parlanti was found guilty and sentenced to 9 years imprisonment. An appeal was submitted and in May 2007 and the court decided to send the case back to the lower court for re-sentencing, as it had not been just to use the highest sentence bracket for the calculation of the sentence.

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Carlo Parlanti is a 42-year-old Italian national and IT professional.

He lived in California for 6 years while working for an international food company.

He met and moved in with a woman, Rebecca. Mr Parlanti entrusted Rebecca with full power of attorney over his assets. However after a few months, their relationship turned sour and at the beginning of June 2002, he asked her to look for her own flat. On 16 July Carlos saw her for the last time before leaving for a business trip to Michigan, and told her that he would expect her to have left the apartment upon his return in a week’s time. She moved out 3 days later. In early August 2002, Mr Parlanti returned to Italy to pursue better work opportunities.

He was not aware that before moving out of the flat, Rebecca had pressed charges against him at her local police station, claiming she had been beaten, bound and raped in the night of 6 July (later she changed the date to 29 June). She also accused him of imprisoning her every night for a week. The police noted no injuries on her. They visited the apartment but found no any sign of a struggle or blood (Rebecca had claimed that her blood had soaked through the mattress). In addition, in transpired that the plastic strips Mr Parlanti had allegedly used to restrain her were brand new and did not have his DNA on them. The police took some photographs, which were later lost by police staff. No-one in the neighbourhood could remember hearing fights or arguments during that week. According to her statement, Rebecca continued to have consensual sexual intercourse with Mr Parlanti after the alleged rape. On the advice of the police, she eventually visited a duty doctor. During the examination, she did not mention being raped. She was diagnosed with two broken ribs, but it is impossible to say exactly when the fracture occurred. After she moved out, she sent him emails saying how much she loved him and asking him how she might seduce him again.

An International Arrest Warrant was issued by the US authorities but for some reason, it was not sent to Italy. Mr Parlanti was eventually arrested while on a business trip to Germany during a routine passport control. He spent almost a year in German custody and attempted to have the case heard in Italy, but failed. On 3 June 2005, he was extradited to California.

At the initial court hearing, the District Attorney (DA) introduced his case by falsely claiming that Mr Parlanti had a criminal record in Italy that included rape and armed robbery. Mr Parlanti had no representation at the hearing, since his defence lawyer has not yet received her advance payment.

At the pre-trial hearing the only evidence Rebecca submitted was an x-ray of her broken ribs and 4 photographs of herself with bruises on her face, which she allegedly took with a disposable camera on 3 July 2002. The photographs she had taken of herself differ greatly to photographs taken by the police when she reported the matter to them. But the police had not only lost their photographs, they had failed to order a proper med-legal examination for the alleged victim. So no real investigation of the allegations ever took place.

Court transcripts show that Rebecca continuously changed her account of events. She also claimed that she only pressed charges against Mr Parlanti because her father forced her to, but when asked, her father strongly denied this.

Nevertheless, Mr Parlanti was advised to accept a plea bargain. Instead, he asked for a fair trial to clear his name. This started on 6 December 2005. Mr Parlanti was made to face the jury chained and dirty and clearly suffering from ill-health. He was found guilty.

Fair Trial Issues

1. Following Mr Parlanti’s arrest in Germany, the US authorities should have presented their evidence within 60 days according to the Extradition treaty between the USA and EU member states. However the US authorities took almost a year to submit their case.
2. No proper med-legal examination performed on the alleged victim.
3. The main investigator resigned from the force just days before the trial and was not called upon to give evidence
4. The court did not question the lack of police evidence following the loss of the photographs.
5. The court did not take into account the fact that the duty doctor had not recorded any sign of rape or violence during her examination.
6. The court did not take into account the numerous inconsistencies in the alleged victim’s accounts, nor her lies under oath during questioning.
7. The court ignored witnesses for the defence but allowed prosecution witness statements to stand.

Mr Parlanti's sentencing hearing is scheduled for 3 March 2006. He can expect receive a sentence of 6 to 9½ years imprisonment. He will not become eligible for parole until he has served 85 % of his sentence.

A lawyer is currently preparing the motion for a re- trial. If the application fails, he will appeal against the guilty verdict.