You be the Judge: What is the appropiate punishment for something like this?

[Sirotnikov]

Originally posted by oedo
oh and btw., I know about 3 degrees of intend:

wanting that someone gets killed (1st degree=dolus directus I)
knowing that someone gets killed (2nd degree=dolus directus II)
not wanting and not knowing for sure, but approving that someone gets killed (3rd dregree= dolus eventualis)

I always wondered about that.


Can some one here expand on the different meanings of Murder, Manslaughter, Killing etc and the different degrees?

What does each mean?

[DinoDoc]

She was just found guilty of murder and tampering with evidence.

[Sprayber]

Originally posted by DinoDoc
She was just found guilty of murder and tampering with evidence.

[DinoDoc]

I'm somewhat curious what the sentence will be since they came back with the verdict so quickly.

[SlowwHand]

I imagine Life.

[PLATO]

Originally posted by SlowwHand
I imagine Life.

Since this wasn't a DP case, I think anything less would be a crime.

[DinoDoc]

Originally posted by SlowwHand
I imagine Life.

Does that mean 40 or 99 years?

[Sprayber]

The maximum that they can give her is life in prison. I would bet that since they took so little time to come to a conclusion that they will give her the max. I can't see any reason why they would take any pity on her..

[Imran Siddiqui]

There's no difference between this and any other hit-and-run cases for the most part, except that she tried to hide it afterward.

The 'except' part is the important one here . That makes is murder.

[MichaeltheGreat]

Originally posted by Sirotnikov


I always wondered about that.


Can some one here expand on the different meanings of Murder, Manslaughter, Killing etc and the different degrees?

What does each mean?

Different states in the US have different laws, at least in details and some of the terminology.

Homicide is a standard legal term, and it simply means killing of another human being, without any conclusion as to legality.

Using California as an example, you have:

(1) Murder in the first degree with special circumstances.

(2) Murder in the first degree

(3) Murder in the second degree

(4) Voluntary manslaughter

(4a) Felony vehicular manslaughter

(5) Involuntary manslaughter

(5b) Vehicular manslaughter.

Legally, you can have justifiable homicide (self defense or defense of others under prescribed conditions, or using minimum necessary force under conditions other than those presribed by statute) and accidental homicide, which is legal if the degree of negligence is insuffient for 5 or 5b.

(1) - This is California's DP/LWOP statute. You have to have the elements of Murder in the first degree, plus one or more of the following "special circumstances": Multiple murder; murder while lying in wait (ambush); murder in or arising from commission of kidnap, rape, armed robbery, burglary, arson, or sexual abuse of a minor under the age of 14; murder by poison; murder by torture; killing of a peace officer, corrections officer, parole officer, probation officer or paramedic or firefighter in connection with their duties; murder for hire; murder of an elected or appointed government official in connection with their office; murder of a witness, prospective witness, prosecutor, juror, or grand juror in connection with their judicial duties or testimony; murder based on race, ethnic origin, religion or nationality.

(2) - This is basic premeditated murder - there has to be advance intent to kill, some degree of planning of the killing OR the likelihood of killing the victim directly or in connection with another crime.

(3) - Murder without premeditation, but with intent to kill, or reckless disregard of the high likelihood of killing, to a degree more severe voluntary manslaugher.

(4) - Unlawful homicide due to either reckless disregard of the possibility of killing the victim (note reckless disregard of the possibility, as opposed to reckless disregard of the probability or likelihood of killing someone), or due to a "crime of passion" such that the the defendant was under a sufficient degree of immediate provocation or duress as to effectively negate the ability to form intent.

(4a) - Unlawful homicide in an automobile accident where the severity of the defendant's conduct (high level of intoxication, reckless driving, exhibition of speed) indicates a reckless disregard for the safety of others.

(5) - Unlawful homicide with a degree of neglect that exceeds ordinary carelessness (i.e. a degree of neglect that isn't reckless disregard, but derives from doing (or not doing) something which a reasonably prudent person would would know not to do (or to do if the negligence results from a failure to act).

(5b) - Unlawful homicide resulting from an auto accident where the defendant was responsible for the accident, and violation of one or more sections of the vehicle code was a proximate cause of the accident.

[Ming]

I agree

[SlowwHand]

I believe Life means 40, unless special provisions are made.

[Dis]

I kind of feel sorry for her.

Did you hear her crying? She obviously feels remorse about this.

They really should give her the mininum sentence.

Yes I know, I can't resist women crying. I can't explain it.

[PLATO]

Originally posted by Dissident
I kind of feel sorry for her.

Did you hear her crying? She obviously feels remorse about this.

They really should give her the mininum sentence.

Yes I know, I can't resist women crying. I can't explain it.

If she had the same reaction to the victims moans while he was bleeding to death stuck in her windshield then we might not be having this discussion.

She is crying because she got caught and convicted. Her remorse is not for the victim.

LWOP.

[MichaeltheGreat]

Diss - she kept it covered up cool as can be for four months. She got caught much later, because of a tip, and all those four months, she wasn't teary eyed and "remorseful."

[Dis]

she sounded genuine to me

she was drunk and on ectasy. You can't expect her to do the right thing in those circumstances.

though I agree her actions after she sobered up were very bad.

[Jack_www]

Originally posted by Sava
if she had hit someone you loved, you might be singing a different tune

Personally, I think drunk-driving is murder. You willfully and knowingly intoxicate yourself. Then you get behind the wheel and kill someone. I'd give drunk drivers who kill people the death penalty.

I agree totally with Sava on this. The woman in this case also had lots of time to help this man. This just makes me sick, I can just imagine the terror the man must have felt as he knew he was dying and that the woman would not help him. That woman should be hit by a car and left to die so that she can flee what that man flet before he died.

[Jack_www]

Originally posted by Dissident
I kind of feel sorry for her.

Did you hear her crying? She obviously feels remorse about this.

They really should give her the mininum sentence.

Yes I know, I can't resist women crying. I can't explain it.

Yeah right. The woman covered the crime up, and she had lots of time for the drugs to wear off that she would have know that a man was stuck in her car windshield and that he needed help or would die yet she decided to ignore his crys for help. She should get the book thrown at her for what she did to that man.

[The diplomat]

What did people think of the closing statements at the end of the sentencing phase?

I think the prosecution went a bit too far when they hinted that she ran over the guy on purpose. Granted, she should not have been driving while under the influence of alcohol, marijuana and ecstasy, but hitting the guy with her car was unintentional. Of course what she did later, ignoring his cries for help and leaving him to die, and continuying to take marijuana, that is unaceptable.

The defense also made some really poor arguments. To say that she is a good person because she was a nice person in high school who never got into trouble, is completely irelevant. Her behavior in high school has nothing to do with the facts of the case. And, the argument they gave that she is mentally sane because she was able to get a job, is also utterly irelevant to the case. The fact that she was able to go to college and then get a job, has nothing to do with the facts of the case.
The argument that driving under the influence is no big deal because it is just a class B misdeamenor, is ridiculous. The main fact of the case is that she killed someone because she was driving under the influence of alcohol, marijuana and X. So, to say that driving under the influence is no bid deal is preposterous. Lastly, to say that caring for patients while stoned is not a threat to the patients because nobody ever complained about it, is ridiculous. It is wonderful that none of her patients got hurt as a result of her drug usage. But to take care of patients while stoned is utterly reckless, dangerous and irresponsible!

[Boris Godunov]

The jury has spoken:

60 years in prison.

[MrFun]

Isn't it obvious?

Life in prison without parole.

[Boris Godunov]

Originally posted by MrFun
Isn't it obvious?

Life in prison without parole.

*points to previous post*

[monolith94]

I was watching her cry on the news, and I just couldn't bear to watch it - the whole fücking situation is just too sad for me to even think about.

[SlowwHand]

She'll do 20.

[PLATO]

Originally posted by Boris Godunov
The jury has spoken:

60 years in prison.

50 and 10. AND they run concurrently. That means 50. She will be elgible for parole in 25 years. She will be 52 years old. That is BS. They should have given her LWOP.

[Zylka]

Originally posted by Urban Ranger
I can't see that as murder. Manslaughter, yeah, but how can this be murder?

What the f*ck?

Seriously - what planet are you on?

[MrFun]

Originally posted by Boris Godunov


*points to previous post*

oops

[Zylka]

"She is not the monster that police and prosecutors are making her out to be," said Mike Heiskell, Mallard's attorney. "She was simply a frightened, emotionally distraught young woman who had an accident, panicked and made a wrong choice."

Heiskell said his client is only guilty of failing to stop and render aid to a man she hit, not murder. But she did in fact stop! When she got home and parked the car in her garage, with the victim, Gregory Biggs, still stuck in the windshield!

What did she do next? Did she call an ambulance? Call the police? Try to help Gregory Biggs? No, she HID the car in her garage, went inside, and had SEX with her boyfriend!

According to Police, Chante J. Mallard, 25, waited for two days for Biggs to die, ignoring the pleas for help coming from her garage.

Biggs, whose body was found in a park on October 27, suffered cuts and broken legs but had no internal injuries that would have caused his death, said the medical examiner's office.

But Mallard, on the advise of her friends, chose to let Biggs first die in her garage, before dumping his body in a nearby park. Police has no leads in the crime until someone tipped them off last week.

According to what Mallard told investigators, she returned to the garage several times to see if Biggs had died, and ignored his pleas for help.



I will weep for her always

[MrFun]

Truly a terrible way for the guy to die.

[Pekka]

Man that's just plain evil.