Good one!
The name of the movie? White Flight.
Thread winner.
I’m glad I’m not the only one who noticed the resemblance.
Nah, you want the big name - Tom Cruise (he has experience playing much bigger men, as in the Jack Reacher movies).
Speaking of resemblances, I was struck by how much juvenile detention center officer Victoria Tune (charged with having aided three juvenile offenders to escape, with all eventually being caught at a Houston motel) resembles Charles Starkweather heartthrob Caril Ann Fugate.
Another murder bumpdate: Casey White has now been charged with felony murder
She committed suicide; it’ll be interesting to see how they connect the dots to a murder charge.
They were both participants in a crime. A death occurred during the course of that crime, as a direct result of their participation in that crime. Dots connected.
If the charges stick, hopefully there’s an abundance of evidence that somehow make for a strong case. I’d hate to see people use this case in an attempt to charge people that happened to be in the vicinity of someone that killed themselves.
Also, I’m looking at the statute mentioned in the article. Not being a lawyer, I’m not sure how they intend to show that he caused her death. Besides, the statute says “Under circumstances manifesting extreme indifference to human life” and “he or she recklessly engages in conduct which creates a grave risk of death to a person other than himself”.
Could his lawyer argue that it was the officers surrounding their vehicle that were creating a situation involving extreme indifference to human life? And, therefore it’s them that should be charged?
Even if they can argue that he’s responsible for her death, the next part of that law states “A person does not commit murder under subdivisions (a)(1) or (a)(2) of this section if he or she was moved to act by a sudden heat of passion caused by provocation recognized by law, and before there had been a reasonable time for the passion to cool and for reason to reassert itself”
Would that exempt him from it?
That’s exactly what felony murder is. If you are engaged in a felony, and somebody dies, you are charged with their death, even if you are merely in the vicinity when they die.
(A classic example is the getaway driver to the burglary being charged for the murder of somebody inside the house where the crime is being carried out. Or the police shooting one co-conspirator and the other one being charged with murder for the death)
If it’s felony murder, they won’t need to show that. They will need to show that he committed a felony and that she died while he did it. They don’t need to show that he actually caused her to die.
There must be more to it than that, right? One person can’t be held responsible for anyone (or everyone) that dies while they’re committing a crime. I have to assume, at the very least, you have to show that the death was, in some way, related to the crime. If I rob a bank and someone walking past happens to get hit by a car, I assume that’s not my fault.
That part I (for the sake of the discussion) understand. But this is different. Imagine one person goes inside to rob the place while the getaway driver shoots himself in the head. Is the robber charged with the murder of the getaway driver?
Yes. Or even if the driver keels over from a heart attack. Felony Murder is a catch all charge. And the courts have upheld it for decades with the precedent being don’t like it, don’t commit a felony.
Casey White is already facing a capital murder trial in connection to the 2015 killing of Connie Ridgeway.
At the time of his escape, Casey White was already serving a 75-year prison sentence for a crime spree in 2015 that included a home invasion, carjacking and a police chase, the US Marshals Service said.
The new charges won’t make much difference. He’s already facing life in prison. Unfortunately White only has a limited nunber of years before old age kills him.
Nope. There are indeed jurisdictions where that very thing happens.
The examples of “felony murder” mentioned by Moriarty and pkbites above are the kinds of outlandish stories that make headlines.
If I were on a jury in such a case – or on a jury an any case – I would take my duty very seriously. But I would consider that to include considering, with great restraint, if I should vote to nullify a charge that really grates against my conscience.
If I were on the jury in a case like one of these, I might very well vote to nullify. I could not support a “catch all charge”, as pkbites called it, if I thought the charge was beyond reason.
ETA: This is one of the reasons we have juries.