Comment Re:Manslaughter? Murder with intent... (Score 1) 463
Except the question comes down to intent to kill.
While Deputy Wood obviously *intended* to utilize his computer, he could not have through that action have *intend* to specifically ram his vehicle at high speed into Mr. Olin, a man he would not have seen at the time when he took his eyes off the road.
That's where your particular argument breaks down. There is no disputing that the Deputy was stupid, and that he should have known better, and that there are countless examples in the media and in his own training to tell him that this was an extraordinarily bad thing to do. Let's give a different scenario that I sat in on one time... Names changed and all that...
Let's say that the Deputy instead discharging is firearm. Rather than wasting the time to climb the fence, he was being stupid and fired it at a padlock as he's no doubt seen done in countless movies. The bullet ricochets and hits Mr. Olin puncturing his carotid artery, leaving him to die before help can arrive. The Deputy did not see Mr. Olin, and there was not an intent for Mr. Olin to die, but regardless Mr. Olin is dead through an action conducted solely by the Deputy. Did the deputy commit an act of negligent homicide, or was there malice involved due to his stupidity and the fact that he "should have known better"?
While Deputy Wood obviously *intended* to utilize his computer, he could not have through that action have *intend* to specifically ram his vehicle at high speed into Mr. Olin, a man he would not have seen at the time when he took his eyes off the road.
That's where your particular argument breaks down. There is no disputing that the Deputy was stupid, and that he should have known better, and that there are countless examples in the media and in his own training to tell him that this was an extraordinarily bad thing to do. Let's give a different scenario that I sat in on one time... Names changed and all that...
Let's say that the Deputy instead discharging is firearm. Rather than wasting the time to climb the fence, he was being stupid and fired it at a padlock as he's no doubt seen done in countless movies. The bullet ricochets and hits Mr. Olin puncturing his carotid artery, leaving him to die before help can arrive. The Deputy did not see Mr. Olin, and there was not an intent for Mr. Olin to die, but regardless Mr. Olin is dead through an action conducted solely by the Deputy. Did the deputy commit an act of negligent homicide, or was there malice involved due to his stupidity and the fact that he "should have known better"?