The judge almost Has to make an example out of her lest the ruling be seen as Open Season on other people.
I would call it accessory to murder.
Open season to . . . tell them stuff?
If she isn’t guilty of what she’s been charged with, and she isn’t made an example of, then what would folks do to her if Open Season was declared? Tell her to kill herself? Seems to answer the OP – I reckon it’d be a fair punishment – but, well, that seems like a matter less for law and more for shrugs.
While here actions were heinous, was there really a crime?
In this particular case, the victim had attempted suicide before. It wouldn’t surprise me that she just got tired of hearing him threatening suicide. That doesn’t excuse her, but it may make if a non-crime.
On a related story some 40+ years ago involving a couple in their twenties. Husband was unstable and drunk. Wife decided she had had enough and packed up to leave him. He threatened suicide if she left. She left. An hour later he put a gun to his head and pulled the trigger. He did a poor job as it took almost a month in the hospital before he died. Both parties confirmed that the wife’s last words were something to the effect of, “Please save me the time and trouble of a divorce and shoot yourself.”
I see a difference between a one-off comment during an argument and repeated exhortations to kill yourself.
I also see a difference between calling someone’s bluff (if you leave me I’ll kill myself) and telling someone to kill himself when there is not such attempt at emotional blackmail.
My mentally unstable brother has attempted emotional blackmail countless times over the years, by threatening suicide. We finally got my mother to resist. The last time he tried with her, she told him that she would see him in heaven. When he tried with me, I suggested a different venue.
However, there is a world of difference between that and telling someone to get back into the car and not chick out.
Broomstick, doesn’t there have to be a murder to be charged with an accessory to murder? More curious about the legality of a charge like this.
Is suicide considered “self inflicted murder” in certain jurisdictions? Massachusetts?
Don’t know about the legality of it, but I personally consider it to be self-murder and the point here was to ask our opinions, wasn’t it? Suicide is the deliberate killing of a human being, what else would it be called but murder? (Maybe manslaughter, I guess).
From my viewpoint if you help someone commit suicide you’re helping them kill/murder themselves. Thus: accessory to murder.
I would not at all be surprised if this is a minority viewpoint here.
(And before folks pile on - there are a very few circumstances where I might say it’s not, just as I think killing someone in self-defense, while nothing to celebrate, is morally defensible. But those are exceptions, not the rule.)
According to one source, Suicide is considered a homicide in many places - and suggests that assisting a suicide is a crime in some places as well. In as much as verbal or textual encouragement could be considered assisting a suicide, such texts or communication may possibly be considered soliciting a homicide, or as accessory to homicide.
Of course, IANAL, so that’s speculative.
Maybe it’s just me, but I don’t have a problem locking up people who throw anvils to a drowning person.
Other stories I’ve heard on the news is that she immediately started texting his parents, but never told them she knew where he was, and asked for some of his ashes. She also set up fund raisers to raise awareness after he died.
The one picture that got to me was the picture of his parents having to listen to all this.
The poor guy who killed himself was obviously mentally ill. This girl knew he was vulnerable, knew she had influence over him, and used that influence to direct his suicide. If she was charged with 1st degree murder, I actually wouldn’t have an issue with that, but obviously I’m not a lawyer.
If someone told their blind buddy to walk in a straight line for 10 paces, with the knowledge that their buddy would go off a cliff if they complied, what would that be? Sure, the blind person is ultimately responsible for their own actions, and no one is forcing them to listen to someone’s instructions. But it’s undeniable that anyone who knowingly leads a blind person off a cliff has 1) used their position of influence/opportunity and 2) their buddy’s handicap to 3) cause their buddy lethal harm.
With the enormous difference that the blind person has absolutely no idea that the actions he’s going to take will result in his death, while Conrad Roy knew exactly what the result of the actions he chose would be.
Why did you make the victim in your example blind? That completely destroys any value it has as an analogy.
A mentally ill person knows that doing something can result in death, but because they are sick, they often lack the perspective and judgment to ignore pathological compulsions to kill themselves. Because they are sick.
The crux of the issue isn’t knowledge. It’s the ability to navigate around the deathtraps in your path, regardless of whether you put them there or not.
No analogy is identical to the situation it is being compared too. So lighten up, Francis.
At any rate, a blind person knows there is some risk of harm whenever they walk around blindly; they take responsibility for this every time they leave the house. This knowledge of risk and personal responsibility remains even if they entrust a friend to guide them.
So the crux of the issue isn’t about knowledge. It’s the ability to navigate around the deathtraps in your path, regardless of whether you put them there or not.
In either scenario, someone has exploited another person’s impairment to indirectly kill them.
There is a verdict in this case, and she has been found guilty of involuntary manslaughter.
The ACLU has weighed in saying the verdict is unconstitutional.The ACLU has weighed in saying the verdict is unconstitutional.
So be careful what you write from now on since if someone does what you write you maybe held responsible. Heck they should charge Tom Clancy with 9/11 Since he wrote something similar about a pilot crashing into the capitol building.
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