Shooting while Black

[Loren Pechtel]

Felony murder at work.

You commit a felony, any reasonably anticipatable bad outcome that results is your fault. A bystander being hit certainly counts as something bad that could happen.

If it's mutual combat they're both guilty. If one was trying to avoid the situation (doesn't sound like it) then only the other is guilty.

The race of the perps and the fact that the cop was incompetent has nothing to do with this.

Personally, I'm not concerned about the race of the perps and how that may or may not have affected the behavior of the police. I'll give them that. My issue is with telling police officers it's ok to shoot everyone because the blame will be placed on whomever or whatever caused you to shoot. "Have at it!" It's counterproductive to that whole don't harm civilians during training thingamabob. Would make a good scene in Police Academy though: Cadet blasts away at every target that pops up

"What the hell are you doing?"
"Stacking charges sir!"
"Carry on then".

Saying that the shooters are guilty of felony murder doesn't make the cops blameless. You're not limited to one charge per victim.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

Absolutely nobody is "telling police officers its ok to shoot everyone". There may be incompetence or recklessness on the part of these officers in this particular case, or maybe they were put in a "damned if you do, damned if you don't type situation"...a grand jury is supposedly going to be convened to get at the facts of the case. I can see having a felony murder law though. Let's say you have a multiple hostage situation. It sometimes happens (unfortunately) that innocent lives will be at risk by police/SWAT actions during attempts to end the situation. Even with trained expert marksmen. It doesn't seem right that they should be on the hook for a murder conviction (life in prison) while making a genuine attempt to end a standoff and save additional innocent lives.

And the primary purpose of felony murder laws isn't even about this sort of situation, but more about your buddy kills someone, or someone kills your buddy.

 

[Gospel]

Felony murder at work.

You commit a felony, any reasonably anticipatable bad outcome that results is your fault. A bystander being hit certainly counts as something bad that could happen.

If it's mutual combat they're both guilty. If one was trying to avoid the situation (doesn't sound like it) then only the other is guilty.

The race of the perps and the fact that the cop was incompetent has nothing to do with this.

Personally, I'm not concerned about the race of the perps and how that may or may not have affected the behavior of the police. I'll give them that. My issue is with telling police officers it's ok to shoot everyone because the blame will be placed on whomever or whatever caused you to shoot. "Have at it!" It's counterproductive to that whole don't harm civilians during training thingamabob. Would make a good scene in Police Academy though: Cadet blasts away at every target that pops up

"What the hell are you doing?"
"Stacking charges sir!"
"Carry on then".

Saying that the shooters are guilty of felony murder doesn't make the cops blameless. You're not limited to one charge per victim.

But I thought two people couldn't get charged for the same crime? Unless I'm mistaken. So let's say (for the sake of argument only) that 1st-degree murder was an option for the officer and the two teens. Could all three be charged for 1st degree murder of the same person?

 

[Loren Pechtel]

Saying that the shooters are guilty of felony murder doesn't make the cops blameless. You're not limited to one charge per victim.

But I thought two people couldn't get charged for the same crime? Unless I'm mistaken. So let's say (for the sake of argument only) that 1st-degree murder was an option for the officer and the two teens. Could all three be charged for 1st degree murder of the same person?

I don't think it could happen in this scenario, but it certainly can.

3 people gun down one person. They're all guilty of first degree murder even though there's only one body. Whose bullets actually killed are irrelevant.

In this case we have the two teens guilty of felony murder. The highest charge the cop can face here is manslaughter as the shots were lawful and there was no intent to kill the dead person. To get higher than manslaughter you need criminal intent.

 

[Gospel]

Ok, I'll wait and see what the state does about its role.