Shooter gets what he deserves after man dies 40 years later

[ArkansasHunter]

It took 40 years for the officer to die from the wound or complications caused by the wound inflicted by the burgler.

He caused it, let him pay for it again...A.H

[troy2000]

Although I understand the sentiment, it would be interesting to listen to the Medical Examiner defend his decision on the witness stand, and prove the death was a direct result of the original wound. I think any competent defense attorney would probably tear him to shreds.

Suppose the shooter had just crippled the guy's leg, and forty years later he stumbled and fell, whacked his head on a curb and died. Would they have filed the murder charge? You could argue his death was a direct result of the shooting...

I think charges can be upgraded before a trial, but personally I don't believe you can convict a guy of attempted murder and murder for the same act...obviously, most murderers were attempting to murder their victims.

I can just see it: guilty of attempted murder, and murder. Guilty of attempted robbery, and robbery. Guilty of attempted drug sales, and sales. Heck; you could nail everyone twice who committed a crime: once for trying, and once for succeeding.

[Idaho Dave]

A more indepth article on this matter can be found here. Man faces murder charge 41 years after shooting - International Herald Tribune It shows that the criminal was a repeat offender who took a long time to "age out" of the life of crime he was in. The inital charge was justified. the man shot the cop 2 times once in the hip and once in the right shoulder resulting in him being paralized from the wait down. Surely, he intended to kill. But, this new charge seems like a dangerous preisdent the medical examiner or the DA must be looking to get into the news. the DA's comments

"When you set in motion a chain of events, a perpetrator of a crime is responsible for every single thing that follows from that chain of events no matter how distant," District Attorney Lynne Abraham said.

leave a funny taste in my mouth. Perhaps the crminal should have been sentanced to a stiffer prison term, or even life. But to say now that the shooting was directly linked to the death seems unsettling. What if you cased a similar injury in an auto accident? would you now face vehicular homicide charges? I can think of a host of ways such a president could be adulterated. And by the same slippery slope perhaps he saved the officer and gave him 41 more years of life. after all he had to quit the force and police work is dangerous, perhaps he would have been fatally shot the next night. or run over by a car while walking across a street two weeks later? No I just dont like or agree with this something seems fundamentally wrong here.

[troy2000]

You have to look out for those politically ambitious D.A's.

My older brother got into it with his wife one night while she was cooking, and she started waving her carving knife at him. Instead of taking the hint and leaving her to finish dinner, he went brain-dead, decided he was Bruce Lee, and tried to kick the knife out of her hand (yeah, he's that stupid sometimes).

When she saw the foot coming at her she stuck the knife out, and wound up having to cart him off to the emergency room for stitches in his leg. The hospital reported the "wound," and a gung-ho County DA got hold of it. He decided he was going to make his reputation by proving that a new domestic violence law applied to women, as well as to men.

To make a long story short, my brother wound up spending thousands of dollars to keep his wife (and the mother of his young children) from being convicted and given a mandatory prison sentence, because when he refused to press charges the DA used the new law to have the County do it.

[ezearln]

Odd as they'd not have a case since it's illegal to attempt to compel one spouse against their wishes to testify against the other.

[troy2000]

Originally Posted by ezearln

Odd as they'd not have a case since it's illegal to attempt to compel one spouse against their wishes to testify against the other.

The DA pushed for and got the indictment in spite of my brother's refusal to press charges or testify, Earl. I don't know the details, because I was working out of state at the time. But it dragged on for a long time before charges were dropped.

I do know that California law had just been rewritten to give DA's wide latitude in pressing domestic violence charges, even without the cooperation of the victims. And the DA gave a smug interview with some local paper, explaining how the law was written to protect ALL victims who were reluctant or afraid to testify, not just wives.

[ezearln]

Once again the PRK championing a cause wherein they basically throw the Bill of Rights onto the Bon-fire stating it is a archaiac and meaningless document> And press on their holier than thou course towards political correctness. Bleeding freaking idiots!

[troy2000]

Originally Posted by ezearln

Once again the PRK championing a cause wherein they basically throw the Bill of Rights onto the Bon-fire stating it is a archaiac and meaningless document> And press on their holier than thou course towards political correctness. Bleeding freaking idiots!

I dunno where they are on it now, Earl. That was about twenty years ago, and I understand the motivation of the original bill: they were trying to put away guys who were beating the crap out of their wives and had them too scared to press charges.

Properly applied, the law probably made sense; I think it basically said that if the victim refused to press charges, the DA could do it on their behalf. But this idiot DA was trying to rack up some publicity and make a name for himself, by applying it in a case it was never meant to cover.

Before you get too carried away dumping on California like it's a separate country, I'd like to remind you of Nifong and the LaCrosse players, where a DA tried to put away three innocent young men for thirty years to further his career, in spite of knowing they were innocent.

[ezearln]

True enuff about Nifong and all the other political hustlers trying to make names for themselves. I guess perhaps I do cuss the PRK a bit Troy, but then again I also feel entitled to. As a child I remember many wonderful things about living out there that the Granola types have either outlawed, heavily restricted or taxed into oblivion. Alot of the industries supported by companies like the one my father worked for have been forced out of state because of overzealous regulators. Sad to see it, and I ain't cussing those living there Troy , I'm cussing the idiots that keep comming up with the lunatic legislation that keeps getting shoved down the citizens throats seemingly whether they want it or not.

[Rufus Rhastus J]

Originally Posted by Chris

He died due to an infection. What if the cop or someone related to him didn't clean the wound properly? It's the creeps fault for shooting him, but he served what society dealt as punishment.
Should have punished him to the max, when you had a chance.

That's true...but, I'll settle for him getting it now. Better late than never!