I'm just going to leave this here...

[xer0s]

http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/11 ... ith-murder

/me runs out of the thread...

[LawL]

They'll think twice before they break into someone else's house.

[Big Kahuna Burger]

ban teenagers

[GONNAFISTYA]

Those are the actions of a sociopath and I have no doubt whatsoever that he votes Republican and is probably a Tea Party supporter.

I mean this in all seriousness: I'm glad most of the crazies are rural and live out in the bush because murder rates all over would go up if these nutters moved into the cities and had actual neighbors.

Isolated Redneck + Gun = Danger To Society With No Concept Of Consequences

[losCHUNK]

This is the part I don't get

Smith was charged with two counts of *second-degree murder* in the deaths of...

when it goes onto to say this

"I want him dead," the complaint quoted Smith telling an investigator.

Smith said he dragged Brady's body into his basement workshop, then sat back down on his chair, and after a few minutes Kifer began coming down the stairs. He said he shot her as soon as her hips appeared, and she fell down the steps.

Smith said he tried to shoot her again with his Mini 14 rifle, but that the gun jammed and Kifer laughed at him.

"Smith stated that it was not a very long laugh because she was already hurting," according to the complaint.

Smith said he then shot Kifer in the chest several times with a .22-caliber revolver, dragged her next to Brady, and with her still gasping for air, fired a shot under her chin "up into the cranium."

"Smith described it as 'a good clean finishing shot,'" according to the compliant, but also that he acknowledged he had fired "more shots than (he) needed to."

Holy fuck btw, wrong house

[Transient]

What kind of idiot goes down into a basement unarmed after hearing someone get shot twice?

[Silicone_Milk]

What kind of idiot goes down into a basement unarmed after hearing someone get shot twice?

Nobody's that stupid... he probably chased her down and claimed she walked down into the basement. Probably was upstairs, surprised them, shot and threw them down the stairs, then followed for the finish.

[Transient]

Pretty sure something like that would have been noticed by anyone with half a brain looking at the crime scene.

Although nothing surprises me anymore.

[Eraser]

I'll wait for sys0p and Nightshade to come down into this thread and argue how this is a completely sane course of action to take if someone enters your house.

[seremtan]

i'll wait for the 7 pages of butthurt and tears that always happen in threads like this

[Don Carlos]

The right to defend your house is one thing, but that is somewhat extreme

[Ryoki]

This is the part I don't get

Smith was charged with two counts of *second-degree murder* in the deaths of...

First degree murder is premeditated, as in a planned murder. Not the case here; he didn't lure those teens into his basement with the purpose of killing them, they broke in and he killed them. Different.

First degree murders are rare, most people kill other people on impulse. It's also something that's usually hard to prove in court.

[losCHUNK]

I always thought 2nd degree was killing by meaning to inflict harm :/, like running someone over to break their legs.

He flat out murdered them yo

What kind of idiot goes down into a basement unarmed after hearing someone get shot twice?

Someone who laughs when a gun jams after that 'fact' and already been shot

[LawL]

Killing by meaning to inflict harm, what other type of killing is there? Or are you thinking of manslaughter?

[losCHUNK]

Killing by meaning to kill, like I shoot you in the head at point blank ?

[LawL]

Killing someone by premeditated thought is first degree. Killing someone without premeditated thought is second degree. Killing someone accidentally where a "reasonable person" should have realised their actions had a good chance of causing death is manslaughter.

[losCHUNK]

Accidental is when the person wasn't meaning to inflict harm in the 1st place, 1st degree from what I am aware doesn't require pre-meditation, rape victims as an example.

- I think ?

[LawL]

Killing by meaning to kill, like I shoot you in the head at point blank ?

Depends on whether you planned for a week to shoot me in the head and then went through with it (premeditated) or shot me because you came home and discovered I was rooting your dog (not premeditated).

[LawL]

Accidental is when the person wasn't meaning to inflict harm in the 1st place, 1st degree from what I am aware doesn't require pre-meditation, rape victims as an example.

- I think ?

It doesn't matter whether they meant to inflict harm or not, what matters is the recklessness of their actions. If I were to start doing burnouts in a car in the middle of a park while a school carnival was going on and I ran over and killed a child, I wouldn't be charged with first or second degree murder because I had no intention, be it premeditated or not, of killing the child. But I would be guilty of manslaughter because I should have been aware that my reckless actions carried a substantial chance of killing someone due to the circumstances of the event, regardless of whether it was an accident or not.

[losCHUNK]

Well the pre meditation only requires enough time to of passed to have thought about the situation and acted with the intent to kill anyway.

It's usually why when they found a body with an extra clip than needed, it's classed out as flat out murder ?

I'm still not entirely sure pre-med is required :/

[LawL]

It is required for first degree.

[losCHUNK]

Hairy muff !

Accidental is when the person wasn't meaning to inflict harm in the 1st place, 1st degree from what I am aware doesn't require pre-meditation, rape victims as an example.

- I think ?

It doesn't matter whether they meant to inflict harm or not, what matters is the recklessness of their actions. If I were to start doing burnouts in a car in the middle of a park while a school carnival was going on and I ran over and killed a child, I wouldn't be charged with first or second degree murder because I had no intention, be it premeditated or not, of killing the child. But I would be guilty of manslaughter because I should have been aware that my reckless actions carried a substantial chance of killing someone due to the circumstances of the event, regardless of whether it was an accident or not.

Well aye, I meant if you kill someone through actions when you wasn't expecting the outcome, like a 3rd party in a shoot out, with accidental and manslaughter having a closer resemblance to eachother like 1st to 2nd degree ?

[LawL]

Well the pre meditation only requires enough time to of passed to have thought about the situation and acted with the intent to kill anyway.

Just to address this point, look at premeditated as planned. If the psycho who killed the two morons who broke into his house had gone out and met them at a party and persuaded them to come back to his house so that he could kill them and then followed through with his intention then that would be premeditated/planned and therefore first degree. In reality he killed them as an over reaction to them breaking into his house. Although it was completely excessive, it wasn't planned at all and was therefore not premeditated so is therefore deemed second degree.

[losCHUNK]

It can be inside the house after he found them, if you can argue enough time had passed and he acted with the intent to kill after he had time to access and act upon a situation.

The gun jamming should have given him plenty of breathing room to consider his actions, let alone dragging her down to the basement and finishing her off ?

[LawL]

Well aye, I meant if you kill someone through actions when you wasn't expecting the outcome, like a 3rd party in a shoot out, with accidental and manslaughter having a closer resemblance to eachother like 1st to 2nd degree ?

I'm not entirely sure what you're asking. But where manslaughter is concerned it depends whether a "reasonable person" should have had the foresight to realise what they were doing could cause someone's death. If you lived alone on a 10000 acre farm and decided to go shooting wabbits and from a mile away accidentally shot and killed some vagrant who, unknown to you, was trespassing on your land then it would be very difficult to prove manslaughter. If you lived in a block of units and decided to use your bedroom wall for target practice and a bullet went through the wall and killed your neighbour while they were watching TV then it would be quite easy to prove manslaughter.