In 2009 there was a major earthquake in the town of L’Aquila in Italy. The next year six scientists along with a government official were charged with manslaughter for failing to predict the earthquake. The trial lasted more than a year and in the end all participants were convicted. The prosecutors asked for a four year prison sentence and the judge handed down SIX year terms. It took another two years before the scientists were acquitted but the guilty verdict for the government official  was upheld.

(Magazine – Smithsonian – June 2015)