this post was submitted on 10 Sep 2024
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US Authoritarianism
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OK, this, much like the specific law involved in this situation, is ridiculously reductive.
Did they break and enter? Yes. Did the friend, who was shot and killed, engage police with a weapon? Yes. Did the guy charged with murder force his friend into the situation that led to his death? NO! The kid who was killed decided to engage the cops with a weapon, while the kid who was charged ran into the woods.
The law just seems like a poorly veiled means of piling additional charges on to criminals, no matter how petty the crime. I'd bet there are probably some more wild situations where the justice system managed to butterfly effect their way to linking some petty crime with something not at all associated with the crime itself.
I think the idea of felony murder makes sense, you've helped create a scenario where someone ended up murdered. I think it's ridiculous that one of your accomplices can be that person though.
The real issue with this case is that he is 15 (16?). Obviously he should have been treated as a juvenile (especially since it sounds like they were all kids).
Felony murder would perhaps work if you were directly involved. For example, if the guy had been active in a shootout with the cops with his friend, or e en if he was then only one shooting at the cops and his friend was shot and killed, then yeah sure I get it. But here, the only common thread in the incident is the robbery, the surviving kid ran into the woods to escape while his friend actively engaged the cops. They weren't acting together at that point. Otherwise, yeah I agree that there also should have been safe guards in place since he was a minor at the time as well.
If there's a 2-man team of a spotter and a sniper, the sniper is pulling the trigger and the spotter is calling the shots, then sure, charge the spotter with murder too.
In virtually every other case, there are already crimes for what the other person did. Use those existing crimes.
This also makes me think of SWATting. Yeah, it's awful to do that. But, 99% of the blame for a successful SWATting should fall on the cops. Someone makes a claim over the phone, and as a result you kick down a door and charge in, guns blazing? SWATting wouldn't work if cops could go to prison for kicking in the door at a house where nothing was going on. If that were a risk, they'd stop and verify the facts before making a decision that could ruin their lives. The only reason it works is that cops are given immunity for just about everything, so there's no real downside to shoot first and verify assumptions later.
Charging the kid for his buddy getting killed by the cops is some kind of black mirror garbage that can only happen in a world where cops can face no responsibilities for their actions. If we lived in a world where cops could face responsibility for their actions, the cop could get charged with murder. Now, he'd easily beat that murder charge because he was acting in self-defense, as the guy he shot was shooting at him. How twisted is it that the person who actually fired the killing shot could claim self-defense, but the person who was running away at the time can't make that claim because he wasn't the one who actually fired the shot?
You can find videos on YouTube of the father of the hyper paranoid and reactional cop. He's been doing seminars for over a decade telling young recruits that 'THEY WANT TO KILL YOU, SHOOT FIRST, THE CITY WILL BAIL YOU OUT!"
I can't remember his name, but any idiot good with YouTube and Google can find it.
I posit if you're that much of a frightened and paranoid pussy, you shouldn't be a cop. But that's just me.
Yeah, I've heard of that guy. He's one of the many reasons why the US police suck so much. But, he can only influence cops in a world where cops can't be held legally responsible for their actions. If cops could be charged with murder / manslaughter people would avoid his course because they'd get sent to prison for following his advice.
You live in a fantasy land where distance apparently prevents consequences.
You know what, answer one question. What else besides run into the woods could that kid do, considering he had no weapon? Armed home invasion already is a 20 year felony, you don't think if he had a gun too he wouldnt have engaged the police?
It doesn't matter what he could have done, what matters is what he did. What he did was illegal, he should be charged with that. He shouldn't be charged for his friend getting killed by a cop. Those were actions taken by other people.