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Death Penalty? Seriously?

calamity said:
Probable, perhaps even likely, outcome is still not murder with intent. See the difference?
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Honestly, the only reason I'd care would be if they were found innocent of murder, and allowed to go free without fear of being retried for a lessor charge.

They're damn lucky they didn't kill more than one person.
 
TheGoverness said:
Yeah, I think manslaughter would make more sense here.
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They can plead down to involuntary manslaughter.

That said, you have to be pretty $#@!! dumb to realize that if you're on a highway overpass, and you toss a 6-pound rock onto the highway, you're going to cause massive harm. I'm a pretty lenient person when it comes to law enforcement, but I'd say 2nd degree murder fits.
 
No thats ridiculous, I've done some horrible things as a kid, throwing eggs at cars is one of them... They should be charged with manslaughter, they had no intent to kill, they were trying to scare or cause damage. Maybe I don't know the case just speculating here....
 
Marco Montana said:
No thats ridiculous, I've done some horrible things as a kid, throwing eggs at cars is one of them... They should be charged with manslaughter, they had no intent to kill, they were trying to scare or cause damage. Maybe I don't know the case just speculating here....
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If you think you might have killed someone with an egg, you should have been a major league pitcher. It's a question of degree.


This is a several pound rock, dropped 20ish feet, a cars going 70+ mph. You don't survive that if it hits you. You do, however, survive an egg.
 
Fledermaus said:
Reckless disregard is reckless disregard....

Duh

Perhaps the shooter didn't target anyone.

Duh

Did I say he targeted anyone? No.

Duh
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Reckless disregard is a far cry from capital murder. Or have you forgotten the topic of this thread already?

Your analogy sucked. Admit it.
 
Mr Person said:
If you think you might have killed someone with an egg, you should have been a major league pitcher. It's a question of degree.


This is a several pound rock, dropped 20ish feet, a cars going 70+ mph. You don't survive that if it hits you. You do, however, survive an egg.
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Good point, I wonder what the kids said? Did any of the kids admit 1 of them was trying to kill? I just find it hard to believe 5 kids would go about to kill someone. But we do live in a screwed up time.
 
Dragonfly said:
Honestly, the only reason I'd care would be if they were found innocent of murder, and allowed to go free without fear of being retried for a lessor charge.

They're damn lucky they didn't kill more than one person.
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That would be one good reason not to overcharge them. A jury may look at it and say, "This case does not meet the burden of proof for capital murder."
 
Marco Montana said:
Good point, I wonder what the kids said? Did any of the kids admit 1 of them was trying to kill? I just find it hard to believe 5 kids would go about to kill someone. But we do live in a screwed up time.
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My guess is it never crossed their mind. Sure, "let's cause a wreck" or "let's **** up a car" was probably part of the conversation. But, like you said, I doubt they thought this through to the point of, "If I throw this rock just right, I bet I can kill someone."
 
Why haven't I heard this story?


This should be on National News so Parents can say over supper, Hey Joey you and your friends ever think of throwing rocks onto cars? Well this is happening DON"T!!
 
calamity said:
My guess is it never crossed their mind. Sure, "let's cause a wreck" or "let's **** up a car" was probably part of the conversation. But, like you said, I doubt they thought this through to the point of, "If I throw this rock just right, I bet I can kill someone."
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And a wreck won't kill or injure anyone?

Priceless.....
 
gdgyva said:
I don’t know

Seems that pranks are getting worse....and this one caused someone to die

If it had been a member of my family that they killed, I wouldn’t be so inclined to show mercy

Should stupidity cause a teenager 20plus years of their life?

Manslaughter can have smaller penalties....torn on this....slap on the wrist sends a wrong message too
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Yes. They knew that what they were doing could kill someone or at least cause serious harm and they did it any way. Punishing them this severely sends a clear message to other immature dumb-asses to figure out that their actions have consequences. We should not be protecting them from their choices, we should be protecting society from them and other like-minded idiots.
 
Fishking said:
Your own definition doesn't fit the bill. You'd have prove their intent was to kill someone.
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or a death caused by a reckless disregard for human life. Sounds like it fits the bill to me.
 
Bodhisattva said:


I am all for law and order but the Death Penalty?

Yes, they were reckless and dangerous and a man died and they must be held accountable. But Manslaughter. 5-10 in prison maybe for the actual thrower but a couple of them didn't do much. This seems like total overkill (pun intended).

Thoughts?

EDIT:

I think I got the DP part wrong. Apologies... murder. Charged with Murder. That is still overkill.
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Capital punishment? Too expensive, too final, too many mistakes.
 
Winchester said:
or a death caused by a reckless disregard for human life. Sounds like it fits the bill to me.
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Death penalty requires aggravating circumstances such as a predicated felony or premeditation. Intent, even, is usually not enough of a hurdle...Texas and Florida perhaps excepted.
 
ttwtt78640 said:
What purpose did throwing rocks at vehicle traffic have?
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I'm assuming the purpose was behavior that would be deemed to be some form of malicious property damage. I feel no reticence by saying that I don't believe it was their intent to kill or seriously harm anyone.
 
Lursa said:
Did you miss this? It was in red: death caused by a reckless disregard for human life.

15-17 yr olds dropping rocks onto cars is exactly that, they certainly knew it could lead to killing someone.
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I doubt they thought that far ahead.
 
calamity said:
Death penalty requires aggravating circumstances such as a predicated felony or premeditation. Intent, even, is usually not enough of a hurdle...Texas and Florida perhaps excepted.
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I said nothing about the death penalty. Just 2nd degree murder.
 
Winchester said:
I said nothing about the death penalty. Just 2nd degree murder.
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Thread title indicates that the subject being discussed is the death penalty.
 
calamity said:
Thread title indicates that the subject being discussed is the death penalty.
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Yes and threads never, ever veer off in tangents and some people don't read the quote being responded to.
 
Winchester said:
Yes and threads never, ever veer off in tangents and some people don't read the quote being responded to.
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Actually, I thought I was replying to Fledermaus. I must have clicked the wrong post. Phones will do that now and then.

See, it even made me go back and re-peck in his name. My autocorrect kept writing Field mouse.
 
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Fishking said:
I doubt they thought that far ahead.
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Yes but at that age they are capable of it. So I'm going with 'reckless disregard.'

I think that's what the 'disregard' refers to.
 
calamity said:
Actually, I thought I was replying to Fledermaus. I must have clicked the wrong post. Phones will do that now and then.

See, it even made me go back and re-peck in his name. My autocorrect kept writing Field mouse.
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And I have repeatedly reiterated 2nd degree, not first nor death penalty.
 
Fishking said:
I'm assuming the purpose was behavior that would be deemed to be some form of malicious property damage. I feel no reticence by saying that I don't believe it was their intent to kill or seriously harm anyone.
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Hmm... chucking these large rocks down on cars traveling at high speed breaks glass and either dents or pierces sheet metal so the occupants of cars are surely safe. Are we to believe that 5 out of 5 of these folks had no clue this was likely to cause serious injury or death - even after seeing the results of hits? I might accept that level of ignorance from elementary school age kids or short bus riders but not from teenagers of normal intelligence.
 
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