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I think it’s too far to actually convict and sentence on felony murder. But a credible threat for future similar actions seems appropriate.
Legally this does feel like textbook felony murder. That being said it would still be the first time felony murder was used on this sort of case.
I am assuming the State can’t being the charges and the local DA’s would not.
Your assumption would be correct. The state can’t generally bring charges.
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Yes, but if you commit a crime, and someone dies during the commission of that crime, then you have committed felony murder.
I think that's bullshit, but it's the law as it stands today.
I can see the case for a felony murder (or manslaughter) as a desirable law when the victims are innocent bystanders.
If you break into a home and give an old person a fatal hard attack, that should be manslaughter. If you break into a home and your accomplice is packing and starts shooting, it is reasonable to assume that you either new they were armed or accepted the possibility and thus have some part in the murder.
It gets murkier if the causal link between the death and the crime is more complex. If you steal a car, drive it safely and someone runs a red light, crashes into the stolen car and dies, I don't think it is reasonable to blame you for it.
If an accomplice of you dies, for example by falling of a roof and breaking their neck, then your relationship to the accomplice matters. If you are a hardened criminal who convinced a kid to climb to that window and open the door from the inside, I feel manslaughter charges are appropriate. If you were on equal level with your accomplice, then it should not be held against you if they kill their stupid selves during a criminal act, unless you had a more direct hand in their death.
I don't think it is reasonable to presume that the fellow BLM protesters coerced a veteran to stand there with a rifle. The more likely story is that they tolerated him being armed, which would have them on the hook if the rifleman shot anyone (provided they also get convicted of a felony), but not if he just got himself killed.
Of course, this is just my gut feeling what would be just, the law is probably different.
Makes sense. They went after literally everyone at the Charlottesville protest based on that theory, but there was zero attempt to go after even the ringleaders when actual, organized BLM groups killed kids.
We're long past the point of legal principles mattering, but yours is one I could definitely live with.
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Yes, but the law as it stands today is also that if you commit a crime, the local DA may at their discretion simply ignore it if they don't think it's moral or feasible to convict you.
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