Hey Bill, Scott, Steve, and everyone else who may come across this post of mine; Greetings!
I just watched a video on a certain YouTube channel about 2 close friends who grew up together but grew apart in their mid-late teens. One friend joined a gang and the other followed a more traditional path yet they remained friends. One day the gang member asked for ride from Average friend and when they pulled over in unsafe area of the city and gang member shot Average guy 3 times and took off in average’s car. Average was able to stagger to get help but was DOA at hospital. Doctor refused to give up and saves Average.
Gang member was caught and 0nly charged with ATTEMPTED MURDER even though Average died enroute to hospital and was actually DOA.
Question; should Gang Member have been charged with 1st degree murder? Average guy was indeed clinically dead upon arrival at hospital. Shouldn’t Gang member face more serious charge of Murder One? I will share my opinion later amd want to see what others might think about all this.
7 replies on “Murder One?”
First off, let me say thanks to everyone for making me feel welcome and that includes you Scott, thank you!
OK, as for my personal opinion concerning the Average guy who ended up surviving the assault by his one-time close friend is this; I sincerely believe the aspiring gang-member guy should have been charged with both Murder 1 as well as Attempted murder. Since Average guy did, in fact, die on the way to the hospital that should satisfy the requirements for a Murder 1 charge. Furthermore, since the doctors at the ER/trauma center were dedicated, professionals, they were able to actually bring him back from the dead thus satisfying the requirements for the Attempted Murder charge. Not being more than just a ‘Keyboard Attorney’ I have no real knowledge if such things are even possible but if I were the judge in the matter and the DA/prosecution team did present the case in this manner, unless there was precedent law forbidding it, I would allow the case to be heard.
Under Australian law it would be attempted murder I believe the Judge and jury would have the option to recommend the same penalty as murder 1. There is not much difference in terms of maximum penalty in the three cases murder, manslaughter, attempted murder, etc, anyway.
In Australia the main debate is based on the problem of several very nasty murderers and rapists reaching release dates. That’s got the government in a mess. Committing them to an insane asylum is an option that was used in one case.
We had one crooked cop, Roger Rogerson that got released from jail in 1990 and in 2014 was up on murder charges again for an Asian man! Rogerson and another former cop are now back in jail for life. Several unsolved murders in the 1980’s are believed to be his work while he was still a cop. One of Rogerson’s cases was a guy he “killed” but the guy survived.
The clock on the wall at my parents place was made by Rogerson; my parents were prison chaplains for a while.
Since the Average guy did not die, attempted murder is the correct charge for that aspect. But how about piling on some more charges: aggravated assault, grand larceny (he stole the car, right?), discharge of a firearm, and so forth; simply reiterating the point Ralph Kopera made.
Average, in the end, did not die. There was no murder. Attempted murder is the correct charge.
I think he should be charged with a botched late-term abortion.
While I think technically you can’t (or usually aren’t) charged with Murder 1 without a body, yeah, that DA should have a list of charges.
The police chief in the big city near here when commenting about the drop in crime did say the difference between a murder and a shooting can be an inch.
Wow. Technically, he failed due to some serious good health care. So I think attempted murder is correct. However, there ought to be many more charges other than the one so that he won’t be getting out any time soon.
Really raises the point as to should there be a distinction between trying to kill someone and succeeding in doing so. It really is the same crime with a different outcome.