# 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:** 5
**Author:** ![kayT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayt/32/3633_2.png) [@kayT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayT)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2017, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boyfriend-dies-in-youtube-prank-stunt-video-girlfriend-charged-with-manslaughter/790080/81 "2017-06-29T01:55:48Z")
> [@madsircool](#): > > What if it turns out there is a large life insurance policy on his life? Or he had been cheating on her and she knew? This is why we need more info before coming to a conclusion. You seem to think this is more than just stupidity. You must not know as many stupid people as I do. ---
**Author:** ![madsircool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madsircool/32/3432_2.png) [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2017, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boyfriend-dies-in-youtube-prank-stunt-video-girlfriend-charged-with-manslaughter/790080/82 "2017-06-29T02:02:56Z")
> [@kayT](#): > > You seem to think this is more than just stupidity. You must not know as many stupid people as I do. What makes you think she was just being stupid? That’s why more investigation is needed. Lots of murder is caused by relationship issues. It could be just stupidity but we dont know that yet. ---
**Author:** ![Pantastic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3bc359/32.png) [@Pantastic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pantastic)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2017, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boyfriend-dies-in-youtube-prank-stunt-video-girlfriend-charged-with-manslaughter/790080/83 "2017-06-29T02:13:49Z")
> [@Procrustus](#): > > I have a problem getting from “she committed a serious crime” to “she should go to prison.” I don’t think one necessarily follows from the other. prison is a terrible place and should be reserved for people who really need to be there. Without knowing much about this woman, she did a very stupid thing, but I doubt she’s a danger to the community to the extent she needs to be incarcerated. Give her probation and don’t let her own any guns. I think “She killed a man through deliberate action” warrants prison time. People who kill people belong in prison, and it would definitely be better for her kids to be raised by someone who doesn’t shoot people in the chest and expect them to live. I’m amazed that ‘she deliberately shot a guy and killed him, and it wasn’t self-defense or some other justified killing, but come on prison is too mean for people who shoot other people’ is a serious line of argument. I think that if someone is dumb enough to shoot a guy in the chest and think she’s going to get away with it, that we need to throw the book at her (PI) to help send the message to anyone else that no, shooting someone to become famous doesn’t make it OK. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2017, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boyfriend-dies-in-youtube-prank-stunt-video-girlfriend-charged-with-manslaughter/790080/84 "2017-06-29T02:14:58Z")
Perfect nomination for a Darwin Award. What gets me is the .50 caliber. Even a vest won’t stop that. Unless you have a ceramic plate in it. How did this dumb ass get a Desert Eagle? You don’t find them at Walmart. I wonder which book he used? A 150 page paperback or War & Peace? A thicker book and smaller caliber gun might have made a difference. ---
**Author:** ![Pantastic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3bc359/32.png) [@Pantastic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pantastic)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2017, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boyfriend-dies-in-youtube-prank-stunt-video-girlfriend-charged-with-manslaughter/790080/85 "2017-06-29T02:19:32Z")
> [@Princhester](#): > > I think people are getting too hung up on the gun thing. Quite simply she did something involving someone else that they both believed to be safe but wasn’t. She did something a reasonable person would know is unsafe, and killed someone. The ‘gun thing’ is important because no reasonable person thinks shooting someone with a gun is a safe activity, ignoring that she was shooting a guy is just silly. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2017, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boyfriend-dies-in-youtube-prank-stunt-video-girlfriend-charged-with-manslaughter/790080/86 "2017-06-29T02:34:24Z")
YouTube stunts are a problem. Some idiot bought a parachute off the Net and jumped off balcony. He survived. [![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQqV9MHjCE4) ---
**Author:** ![Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulf_the_Unwashed)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2017, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boyfriend-dies-in-youtube-prank-stunt-video-girlfriend-charged-with-manslaughter/790080/87 "2017-06-29T02:34:46Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > You’re in Australia; I’m in Canada. > Incarceration is different in our countries. > There’s no way in hell this woman would be going to jail in Canada. What would that acheive? > “Let this be a lesson to all you other people who choose to fire a bullet into a book held in front of another person who asked you to do it in the first place. We shan’t put up with that nonsense.” > > Sent from my XT1635-02 using Tapatalk I’m no lawyer, and my familiarity with Canadian criminal law is pretty minimal. But according to a CBC site (can’t link at the moment, sorry): There are two kinds of manslaughter, and one is "criminal negligence "–encompassing the death of a person without intending to kill, but considered negligent “if a reasonable person would have foreseen that the action would have endangered a life.” Let’s be honest–the grade 2 students I teach know damn well that firing a gun in the direction of a living person is going to “endanger” human life. So I think this incident qualifies. And the cite goes on to say that there is no minimum penalty for manslaughter–unless a firearm was involved. In this case, “the minimum sentence is four years in prison.” So it seems to me that this case would very likely result in a prison sentence in Canada. Possible the info is wrong or I’m missing something, and I’d be happy to be corrected. But the facts of the case that we already know would lead directly to the conclusion that jail time would be required. Other than the implication that a good country should not imprison the shooter in this situation (and that Canada is a “good country”), I’m curious about the basis for the claim that the Canadian justice system would never consider incarceration as punishment for the shooter. ---
**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:** [June 29, 2017, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boyfriend-dies-in-youtube-prank-stunt-video-girlfriend-charged-with-manslaughter/790080/88 "2017-06-29T02:35:29Z")
> [@madsircool](#): > > What makes you think she was just being stupid? That’s why more investigation is needed. Lots of murder is caused by relationship issues. It could be just stupidity but we dont know that yet. I admit, this was one of my first thoughts as well. Right now, I’m leaning towards the interpretation that it was just a couple of idiots doing something for Youtube. I think that’s the most likely explanation, and the video should bear that out, I would think. But it’s not inconceivable there might be something more malicious going on here. But I would think that would have come out by now. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2017, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boyfriend-dies-in-youtube-prank-stunt-video-girlfriend-charged-with-manslaughter/790080/89 "2017-06-29T02:56:30Z")
> [@Channing\_Idaho\_Banks](#): > > What book was it? Reader’s Digest book, “Abridged too far”. ---
**Author:** ![madsircool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madsircool/32/3432_2.png) [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2017, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boyfriend-dies-in-youtube-prank-stunt-video-girlfriend-charged-with-manslaughter/790080/90 "2017-06-29T03:02:27Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > I admit, this was one of my first thoughts as well. Right now, I’m leaning towards the interpretation that it was just a couple of idiots doing something for Youtube. I think that’s the most likely explanation, and the video should bear that out, I would think. But it’s not inconceivable there might be something more malicious going on here. But I would think that would have come out by now. If she isn’t talking it could take time. Maybe I’ve seen to many episodes of Dateline. ---
**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:** [June 29, 2017, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boyfriend-dies-in-youtube-prank-stunt-video-girlfriend-charged-with-manslaughter/790080/91 "2017-06-29T03:04:29Z")
> [@Richard\_Parker](#): > > I think that’s the correct result. We shouldn’t send people to prison unless they have bad intent, even if they are very stupid or naive. Naturally, if they prove that she knew there was a big risk, that’s a different story. I, for one, hope she can recover and move on from that and that the kids’ trauma is as minimal as possible. This is what I was waiting to read. If she’s dumb, then let’s educate her, not punish her. Intent is absolutely vital here. If she did not have the intent to kill him, then punishing her is not going to change anything. She already knows it’s wrong to kill people, and she already knows (too late) that a book is not a bullet-proof shield. And, if she didn’t intend to kill him, then being responsible for his death is going to be very, very emotionally hard on her. Take the grief you felt when someone close to you died, and add that it was at least 50% your fault. How would that make you feel? I’m 100% on board with the idea that she should not go to jail, assuming that this was just two idiots being idiots. The only real punishment that makes sense to me is taking away her right to use a gun until she’s taken several classes on gun safety. (It is unfortunately not something a lot of people know about. They just learn from movies.) Of course, there are other possible issues, which **madsircool** rightly asserts. This is just my face-value interpretation, given the facts as we currently have them. This is a presumption I think should carry on any of these threads. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2017, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boyfriend-dies-in-youtube-prank-stunt-video-girlfriend-charged-with-manslaughter/790080/92 "2017-06-29T03:04:46Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > Perfect nomination for a Darwin Award. As noted early on in this thread, too late. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2017, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boyfriend-dies-in-youtube-prank-stunt-video-girlfriend-charged-with-manslaughter/790080/93 "2017-06-29T03:30:28Z")
I’m really confused about how there can be any question about intent when we have this all on film. I sympathize with the grief this woman must be feeling, but I question whether someone who behaves that recklessly really should have custody of children. It shows a profound lack of good judgement. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2017, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boyfriend-dies-in-youtube-prank-stunt-video-girlfriend-charged-with-manslaughter/790080/94 "2017-06-29T03:35:25Z")
> [@Spice\_Weasel](#): > > I’m really confused about how there can be any question about intent when we have this all on film. > > I sympathize with the grief this woman must be feeling, but I question whether someone who behaves that recklessly really should have custody of children. It shows a profound lack of good judgement. No it doesn’t though. Him: Shoot me here. I know it’s going to be OK. I tried it already. Her: Oh, OK. Are you sure? Him: Yes. It’s OK. Her: …BLAM! And it’s her fault? Fuck that. Sent from my XT1635-02 using Tapatalk ---
**Author:** ![madsircool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madsircool/32/3432_2.png) [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2017, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boyfriend-dies-in-youtube-prank-stunt-video-girlfriend-charged-with-manslaughter/790080/95 "2017-06-29T03:39:11Z")
> [@Spice\_Weasel](#): > > I’m really confused about how there can be any question about intent when we have this all on film. > > I sympathize with the grief this woman must be feeling, but I question whether someone who behaves that recklessly really should have custody of children. It shows a profound lack of good judgement. How can we judge intent based on the video? She should be investigated to determine if she had any reason to kill him. She could be acting. Remember the case of the pretty young wife who hired a man to kill her husband. What she didn’t know was that man was a cop and the whole incident was filmed. They faked his death and called her into the station. Then they revealed to her that he was still alive. She reacted so sincerely. Without the film it would have been a completely believable performance. As Hitler of all people said, people are much quicker to believe a big lie than a small one. So much about this incident is suspicious. Lets also not forget the victim and remember that he deserves justice too. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2017, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boyfriend-dies-in-youtube-prank-stunt-video-girlfriend-charged-with-manslaughter/790080/96 "2017-06-29T03:40:37Z")
I’m comfortable assigning her a good portion of blame. I am one of the most gullible, people pleasing individuals on the planet, and I wouldn’t make the same choice. There has to be some accountability for this level of recklessness. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2017, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boyfriend-dies-in-youtube-prank-stunt-video-girlfriend-charged-with-manslaughter/790080/97 "2017-06-29T03:49:22Z")
Fiddy Cal from a foot away (per the article). I bet that was _messy!_ ---
**Author:** ![BeeGee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b5a626/32.png) [@BeeGee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BeeGee)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2017, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boyfriend-dies-in-youtube-prank-stunt-video-girlfriend-charged-with-manslaughter/790080/98 "2017-06-29T04:03:04Z")
If you’re old enough to walk across the street by yourself, you’re old enough to know that you never, ever shoot a gun at someone that you do not want to die. Prosecution is appropriate. I really want to see the book he tried this out on first. Baseball Encyclopedia at fifty yards, maybe. I have real trouble with the idea that anyone could handle a desert eagle themselves and then say “Hey, fire this at my chest.” This is stupid at a whole different level. ---
**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:** [June 29, 2017, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boyfriend-dies-in-youtube-prank-stunt-video-girlfriend-charged-with-manslaughter/790080/99 "2017-06-29T04:03:41Z")
> [@Spice\_Weasel](#): > > I’m comfortable assigning her a good portion of blame. I am one of the most gullible, people pleasing individuals on the planet, and I wouldn’t make the same choice. There has to be some accountability for this level of recklessness. Why must there be? What purpose does it serve? She killed someone she loved. She already knows she messed up. And the story has already been published that shooting someone through a book can kill them, so the public already knows. What purpose is there in throwing in a criminal element? I wouldn’t do it, either. Because I know that the stuff that blocks bullets on TV doesn’t work in real life. This girl very obviously didn’t. She didn’t intend to kill, and I very, very much argue that it is wrong to punish someone for something they didn’t intend to do. So all that’s left is making it where she doesn’t do it again. Which is why I recommend gun safety training, so she can learn the basics. That plus the natural consequences of having killed the man she loved is enough. And it is also enough of a deterrent. Knowing that you may kill the guy is enough. Throwing her in jail isn’t going to make anyone reading the story less likely to do this. And it definitely won’t affect any other situation, since, by definition, naive people don’t make those connections. ---
**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:** [June 29, 2017, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boyfriend-dies-in-youtube-prank-stunt-video-girlfriend-charged-with-manslaughter/790080/100 "2017-06-29T04:08:35Z")
The children have relevance in some sort of custody battle. They don’t really have any relevance to how the woman should be charged. If, say, her grandparents want to fight for custody, and use this as evidence that she is unfit, fine. I would definitely believe that it would take more than this one incident to prove this. I think you guys are greatly ignoring how big ignorance is about guns in this country. And, once that ignorance is fixed, I think this woman is very likely to be perfectly fine as a mother, barring further evidence. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boyfriend-dies-in-youtube-prank-stunt-video-girlfriend-charged-with-manslaughter/790080.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boyfriend-dies-in-youtube-prank-stunt-video-girlfriend-charged-with-manslaughter/790080.md?page=6)