• mkwt@lemmy.world
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    3 months ago

    This is probably “felony murder”. The rule here is that if you are committing some kind of felony, and someone dies as a result, then you are guilty of murder for that person. This bypasses all of the usual intent filters between first degree murder, second degree murder, and manslaughter.

    Classic example: you and a friend decide to hold up a bank. It goes sideways and a bank security guard shoots and kills your friend. You are guilty of murder because your friend died because you both decided to commit a felony.

    • snooggums@midwest.social
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      3 months ago

      It is a stupid law being applied in the most ridiculous way, by being punished for the police’s actions.

      • GetOffMyLan@programming.dev
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        3 months ago

        But several in the group, including Washington, fired shots at Millbrook police officers who responded Feb. 23, 2015,

        They fired at the police and one died as a result. They were all charged with murder.

        Seems the law is being applied correctly.

        As for the law itself I’m pretty torn on this. If someone dragged my kid along to a crime and they died as a result I’d have no problem with them getting charged for their murder.

        • Ezergill@lemm.ee
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          3 months ago

          And what if someone dragged your kid along to a crime, then got themself shot and your kid now has to spend basically their whole life in jail?

          • GetOffMyLan@programming.dev
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            3 months ago

            That’s exactly why I’m torn. Be pretty hypocritical not to allow it to be applied the other way right?

            And it was 25 years anyway for the crime plus it seems there was a lot more going on in this case including a couple other murders.

            • qarbone@lemmy.world
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              3 months ago

              No, it’s not hypocritical because you’re missing (or ignoring) intent. Someone pressures your relative into doing a crime, reluctantly. Now the other criminal gets killed and your reluctant relative is on the hook for a murder they didn’t commit during a crime they didn’t really want to be a part of.

              That is in no way comparable to a mastermind gathering a bunch of stooges for a suicide mission and getting them to commit death by cop.

            • Maggoty@lemmy.world
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              3 months ago

              No there wasn’t. That was a separate case that we don’t know the disposition of. That commenter brought them in but in any court that kind of argument is banned unless they were convicted or it’s part of the matter before the court.

            • WhatAmLemmy@lemmy.world
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              3 months ago

              You are missing the point of the argument. Prison is supposed to be for rehabilitation anyway; except in extreme circumstances. This type of law and sentence only exists to feed the for-profit prison system.

              Most importantly! Why the fuck are common thieves being put in prison for life when the Boeing execs — whose premeditated fraud directly killed of hundreds of people — are chilling with the plutocracy on their 3rd yacht?

    • Maggoty@lemmy.world
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      3 months ago

      Which, to be clear, is a fantastic way to charge people for the police hurting them. And not okay under most moral systems.

    • technocrit@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      3 months ago

      The rule here is that if you are committing some kind of feeling, and someone dies as a result a cop murders somebody, then you are guilty of the cop’s murder.

      FTFY

      This bypasses all of the usual intent filters between first degree murder, second degree murder, and manslaughter… in order for police to pin their murders on minorities despite all reason and case history.

      FTFY.

      • calcopiritus@lemmy.world
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        3 months ago

        Your argument only holds up if the cop isn’t also tried for that murder. I’m not even an American citizen so I don’t know if that’s the case.

        Doesn’t matter if the cop would be tried though, as cops are already immune to the law in america. They don’t need to convict other people for that. I don’t think at all that the purpose of that law is to protect cops.

        • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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          3 months ago

          Your argument only holds up if the cop isn’t also tried for that murder.

          The U.S. Supreme Court rules in favor of officers accused of excessive force

          The two cases concerned police officers accused of using excessive force when responding to domestic disturbances. In one, officers used beanbag rounds and a knee on the suspect’s back to subdue him; in the second, officers shot and killed the suspect after he approached them while raising a hammer.

          Both decisions the court issued Monday were unsigned. No justices dissented.

      • mkwt@lemmy.world
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        3 months ago

        The thing that’s fucked is not the idea of chains of causation. Courts deal with that all the time.

        The fucked up part about felony murder in many states is that it bypasses mens rea or intent elements and jumps straight to murder 1 sentencing.

        • Maggoty@lemmy.world
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          3 months ago

          No. You can see in this very case. Our guy robbed the place but he wasn’t the one who decided to charge the police with a gun. That was the proximate cause of the officer shooting and one person made that decision. If we’re going to go further back then where do we stop? His parents? His teachers? His community center sports coach? His friends who weren’t present? After all we’re talking about decisions leading to decisions now. What was the deep cause of the cop firing his weapon? Did his dad get fired, requiring the family to find money in other places? Do we charge the dad’s former boss in that case? After all in that theory case our guy wouldn’t have been at the robbery at all without that firing.

          Blaming anything or anyone not involved in the act is the height of rationalization for longer sentences brought by racists and executives in the prison industry.

          • Kecessa@sh.itjust.works
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            3 months ago

            He wasn’t the one who charged the police but he took part in the crime that lead to that act, he could have stopped the crime from happening or not taken part in it, he chose to join in and that resulted in the death of his friend, he’s responsible for it by being an informed party, just like anyone who knew they were planning it and that didn’t denounce them before it happened.

            • Maggoty@lemmy.world
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              3 months ago

              Oh yes, so we should also arrest anyone who plausibly knew they would commit this crime and charge them with murder too. /s

              There was one person who made the decision to fire a gun and it wasn’t this guy.