Hulk Hogan's son should be tarred/feathered

[Gurm]

Yeah I still think that you need more than one of those criteria in order to consider reckless driving a "murder". It can't JUST be "he was driving recklessly and someone got hurt/killed".

AND it's hard to prove malice, honestly, in a case where you THOUGHT you'd be ok. I know it has been allowed in the past, which is why we're even having the discussion, but I think the prosecutor will have an uphill battle shooting for murder 2. You can ask for it, and maybe even get to charge it, but you're FAR better off, from a prosecutorial standpoint, charging with man 2 or vehicular manslaughter... and getting a conviction... than charging with Murder 2 and getting a walk.

[Dr Mordrid]

AND it's hard to prove malice, honestly, in a case where you THOUGHT you'd be ok.

Not with the evolved definition of malice from recent court decisions. Re-read that definitions #2;

2. Law; evil intent; state of mind shown by intention to do, or intentional doing of, something unlawful

Malice only requires "evil intent"; the knowledge you're breaking the law, and the courts now say that's enough to justify a murder 2 charge when someone drives recklessly and someone dies as a result.

[Gurm]

Not with the evolved definition of malice from recent court decisions. Re-read that definitions #2;

2. Law; evil intent; state of mind shown by intention to do, or intentional doing of, something unlawful

Malice only requires "evil intent"; the knowledge you're breaking the law, and the courts now say that's enough to justify a murder 2 charge when someone drives recklessly and someone dies as a result.

Allowing the charge and getting the conviction are two VERY different things.

You can go on and on about his attitude to date, but the jury won't be allowed to consider anything but the facts, and none of them will know anything about him or the case beforehand. And you can be DAMN sure that he'll be contrite in court, complete with tears and the works. So if I were the prosecutor, and I wanted to get some justice, I'd shoot for vehicular manslaughter.

Let's say I'm driving home, and my family is in the car. And let's say that I exceed the speed limit. And let's say we hit some ice, go off the road, and someone dies. Did I have "malice" because I intended to speed? That's "unlawful". No jury in the country would convict of Murder in that case. Hogan's lawyers will make his case seem like the same thing.

[Dr Mordrid]

Allowing the charge and getting the conviction are two VERY different things.

You can go on and on about his attitude to date, but the jury won't be allowed to consider anything but the facts....

And do you really think those jurors will have been living in an information bubble from the incident to the trial? Like it or not they'll know the history of this case and it will be an unspoken witness in that deliberation room. Thinking otherwise is Pollyanna'ish.

[Umfriend]

I don't get it. I can see how one can argue that speeding imples malice, i.e., the intent of doing something unlawful: speeding. But if, while speeding, a person dies (passenger, other trafficer), I'd be hard-pressed to accept the intent to do something unlawful equals the intent to do someone harm. They'd have to be related. There is a difference between someone speeding and causing an accident and someone speeding while intentionally directing his car towards someone else. Equating the two would, IMO, open a can of worms. You might start to conconct all kinds of relationships to prosecute in that way.

- Would speeding without an accident be an attempt to murder?
- I'm trying to tap electricity just before the meter but I mess it up. I mess it up good so that not only my fuses blow but those of the local dispenser as well: the whole block goes without electricity. My neighbour is on life support which now fails. He dies. Is that murder?

[Dr Mordrid]

In US law if one kills while committing a crime involving malice (criminal intent) it's a homicide. It's up to the prosecutor to determine the level of the charge; manslaughter, murder 2 or murder 1. This differs from many countries where a judge determines the charges.

- no, attempted murder requires premeditation. on the other hand if you intentionally steer into a crowd that could be charged as attempted murder even if no one were killed.

- no, his family should have provided backup power. a case like this happened here a few weeks ago. you might be sued by his family for wrongful death though.