# Boyfriend dies in Youtube prank/stunt video, girlfriend charged with manslaughter **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 28, 2017, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boyfriend-dies-in-youtube-prank-stunt-video-girlfriend-charged-with-manslaughter/790080 "2017-06-28T19:33:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 16
**Author:** ![Slash1972](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slash1972/32/6461_2.png) [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2017, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boyfriend-dies-in-youtube-prank-stunt-video-girlfriend-charged-with-manslaughter/790080/301 "2017-07-03T20:14:21Z")
> [@Skara\_Brae](#): > > It’s called intent. > > The person in the first instance didn’t believe her actions would bring about a person’s death. > > The person in the second instance was _ **trying** _ to cause a person’s death. Sure. And what criminal actions did the person in the second instance perform? And how do you rate those criminal actions (if any) compared with shooting and killing someone? ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2017, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boyfriend-dies-in-youtube-prank-stunt-video-girlfriend-charged-with-manslaughter/790080/302 "2017-07-03T21:12:25Z")
> [@Slash1972](#): > > Sure. And what criminal actions did the person in the second instance perform? And how do you rate those criminal actions (if any) compared with shooting and killing someone? I’m speaking from my personal moral code but, yes, to me encouraging someone to kill themselves and egging them on to do it coldly and purposefully is at least an order of magnitude more morally culpable than convincing my friend to shoot me for a stunt on TV. If I managed to convince my friend to shoot me for a Youtube stunt, and I died, I would not blame him; I would blame myself. If I convinced my friend to kill himself, I would feel mostly morally culpable in that situation, not him, even though he’s the one who gassed himself in the end. So far as there is “evil,” I feel there is evil in the latter death, not in the former. C’est la difference of opinion. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Borgia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_borgia/32/156_2.png) [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2017, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boyfriend-dies-in-youtube-prank-stunt-video-girlfriend-charged-with-manslaughter/790080/303 "2017-07-03T22:51:43Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > When considering how the law should operate in a particular case, it’s important to consider not just the facts of the particular case, but the general context of the law. Giving analogous hypotheticals often helps participants in a discussion to consider the implications of their position more generally. I understand that might be a good idea among lawyers and law makers, but in general message board or real life discussions it tends to distract from the topic at hand. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Borgia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_borgia/32/156_2.png) [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2017, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boyfriend-dies-in-youtube-prank-stunt-video-girlfriend-charged-with-manslaughter/790080/304 "2017-07-04T00:19:02Z")
> [@madsircool](#): > > We dont know that Mona Lisa didn’t know that. It could be a perfect cover for a coldblooded murder. We have to wait for the facts to come out. And now, a Lifetime original movie. It seemed like a tragic accident. But then detective Madison Malone (Natasha Henstridge) uncovers a black widow’s web of deception and murder. Up next:\* .50 Caliber Femme Fatale \* ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2017, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boyfriend-dies-in-youtube-prank-stunt-video-girlfriend-charged-with-manslaughter/790080/305 "2017-07-04T03:44:33Z")
> [@Larry\_Borgia](#): > > I understand that might be a good idea among lawyers and law makers, but in general message board or real life discussions it tends to distract from the topic at hand. It depends. Some people give absurd comparisons and then refuse to let go of them. Other times it does help clarify by contrasting with something else. ---
**Author:** ![Slash1972](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slash1972/32/6461_2.png) [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2017, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boyfriend-dies-in-youtube-prank-stunt-video-girlfriend-charged-with-manslaughter/790080/306 "2017-07-05T12:29:11Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > I’m speaking from my personal moral code but, yes, to me encouraging someone to kill themselves and egging them on to do it coldly and purposefully is at least an order of magnitude more morally culpable than convincing my friend to shoot me for a stunt on TV. If I managed to convince my friend to shoot me for a Youtube stunt, and I died, I would not blame him; I would blame myself. If I convinced my friend to kill himself, I would feel mostly morally culpable in that situation, not him, even though he’s the one who gassed himself in the end. So far as there is “evil,” I feel there is evil in the latter death, not in the former. > > C’est la difference of opinion. Well, if we were speaking of who was more “evil” then yes, I would agree. Being stupid doesn’t make you “evil”. Telling someone to kill themselves would be more “evil” ---
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2017, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boyfriend-dies-in-youtube-prank-stunt-video-girlfriend-charged-with-manslaughter/790080/307 "2017-12-19T20:52:03Z")
Monalisa Perez pleads [guilty](http://www.startribune.com/young-minn-mom-pleads-guilty-to-point-blank-killing-of-boyfriend-during-ill-fated-youtube-stunt/465182453/). > [@StarTribune](#): > > The plea agreement calls for her to spend 180 days in jail. Also, Perez cannot “make any financial compensation” from the video-recorded killing of Ruiz and is “banned from possessing firearms for the rest of her life,” the prosecution’s court filing last week read. > > Perez, who has two small children with Ruiz, will serve her six-month jail term 30 days per year for the next three years and then becoming eligible to serve the balance on electronic home monitoring, as long as she abides by the terms of her 10-year supervised probation ---
**Author:** ![Slash1972](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slash1972/32/6461_2.png) [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2017, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boyfriend-dies-in-youtube-prank-stunt-video-girlfriend-charged-with-manslaughter/790080/308 "2017-12-19T20:59:44Z")
Well, that’s something at least. I bet she doesn’t make it through her 10 year probation. ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2017, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boyfriend-dies-in-youtube-prank-stunt-video-girlfriend-charged-with-manslaughter/790080/309 "2017-12-19T21:56:20Z")
> [@Slash1972](#): > > Well, that’s something at least. I bet she doesn’t make it through her 10 year probation. Why? The apparent instigator of her legal issues is dead. Or do you subscribe to some kind of superstitious “bad seed” theory? ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2021, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boyfriend-dies-in-youtube-prank-stunt-video-girlfriend-charged-with-manslaughter/790080/310 "2021-02-07T03:37:57Z")
A new poorly thought out Youtube stunt: “Hey, let’s pretend to rob strangers at knife-point. It’ll be rad for dope shizzle, yo!” It did not go well. > **[Tennessee man shot, killed after YouTube video 'prank' goes wrong](https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/tennessee-man-shot-killed-after-youtube-video-prank-goes-wrong-n1256940)** > > Timothy Wilks, 20, was killed after he approached a group of people with butcher knives as part of a "prank" robbery, police said. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2021, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boyfriend-dies-in-youtube-prank-stunt-video-girlfriend-charged-with-manslaughter/790080/311 "2021-02-07T03:46:28Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > A new poorly thought out Youtube stunt: “Hey, let’s pretend to rob strangers at knife-point. It’ll be rad for dope shizzle, yo!” > > It did not go well. > > [Tennessee man shot, killed after YouTube video 'prank' goes wrong](https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/tennessee-man-shot-killed-after-youtube-video-prank-goes-wrong-n1256940) This prank was a very stupid idea. Still this kid shouldn’t be dead. This is why people shouldn’t be walking around with guns. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2021, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boyfriend-dies-in-youtube-prank-stunt-video-girlfriend-charged-with-manslaughter/790080/312 "2021-02-07T04:00:46Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > This is why people shouldn’t be walking around with guns. Self-defense against armed attacks by strangers is the _best_ reasoning for walking around with guns! ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2021, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boyfriend-dies-in-youtube-prank-stunt-video-girlfriend-charged-with-manslaughter/790080/313 "2021-02-07T04:04:11Z")
BTW, since the thread was revived, I was curious what happened to Monalisa Perez, the woman who accidentally on purpose shot her boyfriend, so I [Googled](https://www.inforum.com/business/small-business/6833007-How-Monalisa-Perez-found-peace-after-a-YouTube-stunt-turned-deadly-in-Minnesota). She’s in South Dakota, engaged to another guy and has a clothing brand. ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2021, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boyfriend-dies-in-youtube-prank-stunt-video-girlfriend-charged-with-manslaughter/790080/314 "2021-02-07T04:25:10Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > This prank was a very stupid idea. Still this kid shouldn’t be dead. This is why people shouldn’t be walking around with guns. > [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > Self-defense against armed attacks by strangers is the _best_ reasoning for walking around with guns! Um, what? This “kid” was 20 years old. I grew up in the U.K. and I’m very uncomfortable with American attitudes to guns, but I’m with Darren on this. Someone who attempts robbery wielding a butcher knife should expect to be shot, so someone who _pretends_ to attempt robbery wielding a butcher knife should also expect to be shot. ---
**Author:** ![Dallas\_Jones](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dallas_jones/32/3277_2.png) [@Dallas\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dallas_Jones)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2021, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boyfriend-dies-in-youtube-prank-stunt-video-girlfriend-charged-with-manslaughter/790080/315 "2021-02-07T04:46:00Z")
Bad decisions have consequences. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2021, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boyfriend-dies-in-youtube-prank-stunt-video-girlfriend-charged-with-manslaughter/790080/316 "2021-02-07T04:57:12Z")
Thanks for summarizing that. We appreciate Ablock-blocer blockers like you. ---
**Author:** ![steepone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/977dab/32.png) [@steepone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/steepone)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2021, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boyfriend-dies-in-youtube-prank-stunt-video-girlfriend-charged-with-manslaughter/790080/317 "2021-02-07T05:52:14Z")
> [@Quimby](#): > > What happened here is the very definition of Manslaughter. If you cause someone to die but didn’t plan to purposely kill them (which is Murder), that is Manslaughter. > She fired gun at his chest. She should go to prison. I totally agree with this, there definitely needs to be some prison time, her actions were obviously and stupidly dangerous, unless she is intellectually deficient there no way she can say she didn’t believe there was any danger ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2021, 7:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boyfriend-dies-in-youtube-prank-stunt-video-girlfriend-charged-with-manslaughter/790080/318 "2021-02-07T07:50:47Z")
How is this any different from the dangerous stunts we see others perform for our entertainment? In 2016, Luke Aikins jumped out of an airplane without a parachute and landed in a net. There’s the classic circus act with the target girl bound to an object while some dude throws knives at balloons around here. If a side show performer accidentally hits his assistant in the throat with a knife is that manslaughter? if Luke Aikins had missed that net would the pilot have any liability for his death? ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2021, 8:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boyfriend-dies-in-youtube-prank-stunt-video-girlfriend-charged-with-manslaughter/790080/319 "2021-02-07T08:42:35Z")
> [@Odesio](#): > > How is this any different from the dangerous stunts we see others perform for our entertainment? In 2016, Luke Aikins jumped out of an airplane without a parachute and landed in a net. There’s the classic circus act with the target girl bound to an object while some dude throws knives at balloons around here. If a side show performer accidentally hits his assistant in the throat with a knife is that manslaughter? if Luke Aikins had missed that net would the pilot have any liability for his death? re you talking about the OP, or the new story that @Darren_Garrison mentioned that raised this thread? If the first one: because stunts like that are done with safety procedures in place. They know the danger of the items they use and try to mitigate any issues. Thinking you can stop a bullet with books? That’s just stupid. If the second one: because they were “pranking” people by terrorizing them, and made someone think they needed to shoot him to protect themselves. You don’t troll people using a deadly weapon. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2021, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boyfriend-dies-in-youtube-prank-stunt-video-girlfriend-charged-with-manslaughter/790080/320 "2021-02-07T15:24:05Z")
> [@Riemann](#): > > Um, what? This “kid” was 20 years old. I grew up in the U.K. and I’m very uncomfortable with American attitudes to guns, but I’m with Darren on this. Someone who attempts robbery wielding a butcher knife should expect to be shot, so someone who _pretends_ to attempt robbery wielding a butcher knife should also expect to be shot. Whether or not he should from his individual perspective _expect_ to be about, from a societal perspective he still shouldn’t _actually_ be shot. A person planning on enacting image YouTube prank, no matter how poorly conceived, should not be dead because of it. We should arrange things in society to make this outcome less likely. And in the original post, those people shouldn’t have had guns in the first place to enact their stupid idea. We need to make possession and use of firearms for any purpose, including pranks, more difficult, less likely, and more unacceptable in general in society. I won’t associate socially with someone who carries firearms. More people should shun such people. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boyfriend-dies-in-youtube-prank-stunt-video-girlfriend-charged-with-manslaughter/790080.md?page=15) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boyfriend-dies-in-youtube-prank-stunt-video-girlfriend-charged-with-manslaughter/790080.md?page=17)