Just like #ChiefsKingdom has always been there for me and my family, we want to be there for them.❤️
The @Chiefs have launched #KCStrong, an emergency response fund supporting victims and their families, violence prevention and mental health services, and first responders.… pic.twitter.com/sYMnPgCWL0
Friendly mod reminder, this thread is about yesterday's shooting. Not about gun control, gun laws, politics, or anything of that nature. If you need everyone to know what's wrong in this world and how you'd fix it, grab your megaphone and soapbox and take it to DC, thanks. [Reply]
Originally Posted by DaFace:
I feel for them, but if people got charged for guns going off accidentally, Dick Cheney would be in jail. They would have had to prove that the guy was acting negligently, and it sounds like they didn't have the evidence to do it.
The Jackson County DA has a very long history of not prosecuting violent criminals and those criminals turning around causing more carnage [Reply]
Originally Posted by wazu:
Maybe, but it sounded like the undisputed facts of the case were pretty open and shut.
It's not manslaughter just because it's an accident. You have to prove that he was NEGLIGENT in a way that caused the accident, and you have to have enough evidence to prove it.
Even if he was waving the gun around, the article makes it sound like it went off when he was holding it in his lap, so the waving isn't necessarily even material. [Reply]
Originally Posted by DaFace:
The article says someone in the car said it was an accident. If you don't have evidence of negligence, you can't get a conviction.
I know it's easy to blame prosecutors for stuff like this, but their job is to press charges when they think they can get a conviction - not to waste the court's time.
(I sat on a jury trial that never should have been brought to trial a year ago. Was it likely there was negligence involved? Yep. Could they prove it? Not anywhere close. It was a giant waste of time, and even the judge was clearly frustrated.)
Did he own the gun legally? If not, he is committing a felony and a death in while committing a felony can be charged as murder. [Reply]
Originally Posted by DaFace:
The article says someone in the car said it was an accident. If you don't have evidence of negligence, you can't get a conviction.
I know it's easy to blame prosecutors for stuff like this, but their job is to press charges when they think they can get a conviction - not to waste the court's time.
(I sat on a jury trial that never should have been brought to trial a year ago. Was it likely there was negligence involved? Yep. Could they prove it? Not anywhere close. It was a giant waste of time, and even the judge was clearly frustrated.)
His cousin said it was an accident. You trust him as an impartial witness? The article also says there was video of him waving it around. Obviously this moron was being negligent and playing gangster.
Also, this person doesn’t have a mental health problem. It’s a cultural (sub culture) problem that no amount of mental health services will fix. [Reply]
Originally Posted by mr. tegu:
His cousin said it was an accident. You trust him as an impartial witness? The article also says there was video of him waving it around. Obviously this moron was being negligent and playing gangster.
Also, this person doesn’t have a mental health problem. It’s a cultural (sub culture) problem that no amount of mental health services will fix.
I don't trust anyone, nor do I have any insider info on the case. I just don't think people appreciate how hard it is to get a conviction without concrete evidence that the negligent act (presumably waving a gun around) directly led to the gun going off, and it sounds like the one witness they did have said that wasn't the case. [Reply]
Originally Posted by DaFace:
Even if he was waving the gun around, the article makes it sound like it went off when he was holding it in his lap, so the waving isn't necessarily even material.
If by sitting in his lap you mean holding it in his hands, fiddling with it, while pointing it at someone’s head?
“He told officers that the slide on the 9-millimeter did not return on the gun and he forced it forward and it went off.” [Reply]
Again, I sat through a trial and had to read through the 20 pages of legalese that laid out how all of this works. It's not very satisfying - I know - but the bar for getting a conviction in these kinds of cases is VERY high. [Reply]
(Not so) fun fact to the point I'm trying to make: only around half of murder/manslaughter cases in the U.S. even lead to an arrest, let alone lead to a conviction. It's REALLY hard to get convictions for stuff like this.
Originally Posted by DaFace:
(Not so) fun fact to the point I'm trying to make: only around half of murder/manslaughter cases in the U.S. even lead to an arrest, let alone lead to a conviction. It's REALLY hard to get convictions for stuff like this.
Originally Posted by staylor26:
Yes Kyle Rittenhouse was charged when anybody with half a brain could watch the videos and see a clear case of self-defense.
Bullshit excuse from somebody that clearly lives in an echo chamber.
Please point to all of the places I've weighed in on the Kyle Rittenhouse trial. I'll wait. [Reply]
