# If you were shot in the head... **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 9, 1999, 7:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-shot-in-the-head/5252 "1999-12-09T07:12:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Babar714](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/779978/32.png) [@Babar714](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babar714)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 1999, 7:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-shot-in-the-head/5252/1 "1999-12-09T07:12:00Z")
… or heart and were rushed to the hospitl and died on the operating table, but the talented medical professionals were able to bring you back after a few minutes with a risky MacGuyveresque procedure, could the assailant still be charged with murder? ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 1999, 8:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-shot-in-the-head/5252/2 "1999-12-09T08:50:00Z")
No. If you were shot in the head, and you felt the impact and the feeling of being lifted off your feet, but were dead before you hit the ground, would you have to experience an eternity with the sense of falling permeating your soul? Now there’s a question for ya. * * * -PIGEONMAN- Hero For A New Millennium! [The Legend Of PigeonMan](http://www.hotkey.net.au/~guanolad/pigeonman/) - updates every Wed & Sat. If I can be bothered. ---
**Author:** ![EvilGhandi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@EvilGhandi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EvilGhandi)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 1999, 8:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-shot-in-the-head/5252/3 "1999-12-09T08:55:00Z")
The gunman would be charged with attempt, which can carry the same penalty as the actual crime. ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 1999, 6:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-shot-in-the-head/5252/4 "1999-12-10T06:31:00Z")
A related question: What if you jumped out a window to commit suicide, but on the way down were shot by a shotgun and killed by the gunwound, but it turns out that the gun was discharged by someone who thought it was unarmed and was just using the gun to scare his wife, but the person who discharged your gun was your father, and you (the potential suicide) had surreptitiously put bullets in the gun because you knew your father was in the habit of threatening your mother with the empty gun and you wanted him to actually kill your mother, would that be suicide? * * * Quand les talons claquent, l’esprit se vide. Maréchal Lyautey ---
**Author:** ![GirlFace](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ecd19e/32.png) [@GirlFace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GirlFace)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 1999, 6:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-shot-in-the-head/5252/5 "1999-12-10T06:41:00Z")
Arnold, that was a true story, but I never did hear the outcome. Do you know what happened? ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 1999, 6:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-shot-in-the-head/5252/6 "1999-12-10T06:41:00Z")
In Arnold’s example, if the person landed in sewer, then it might be sewercide. ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 1999, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-shot-in-the-head/5252/7 "1999-12-09T19:07:00Z")
No, **GirlFace** , it’s an urban legend, as you can see from the [Urban Legends Reference Pages](http://www.snopes.com/). This article gives more details: [1994’s Most Bizarre Suicide](http://www.snopes.com/spoons/faxlore/opus.htm) * * * Quand les talons claquent, l’esprit se vide. Maréchal Lyautey ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 1999, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-shot-in-the-head/5252/8 "1999-12-09T19:08:00Z")
Damn you, space bar! [1994’s Most Bizarre Suicide](http://www.snopes.com/spoons/faxlore/opus.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Boris\_B](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/fbc32d/32.png) [@Boris\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boris_B)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 1999, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-shot-in-the-head/5252/9 "1999-12-09T19:12:00Z")
Here’s what snopes has to say on the shotgun/autodefenestration suicide/homicide case: [http://www.snopes.com/spoons/faxlore/opus.htm](http://www.snopes.com/spoons/faxlore/opus.htm) As to the OP, I’m coming to the conclusion that I don’t really know what death is. As Hawkeye or Trapper would say, “Funny, I always thought death was terminal.” I mean, people’s hearts stop all the time on the operating table, and they get defibrolated (help! spelling hazard!) and then their hearts quit being stopped. Are they all undead or something? Does this make the defibrolator person their new parent? * * * Any similarity in the above text to an English word or phrase is purely coincidental. ---
**Author:** ![Alphagene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Alphagene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alphagene)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 1999, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-shot-in-the-head/5252/10 "1999-12-09T19:30:00Z")
> [@](#): > > In Arnold’s example, if the person landed in sewer, then it might be sewercide. Naw, the sewer gators who guard the white marijuana that grows ten feet tall would eat him. * * * If I wanted smoke blown up my ass, I’d be at home with a pack of cigarettes and a short length of hose. ---
**Author:** ![Nickrz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/bbce88/32.png) [@Nickrz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nickrz)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 1999, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-shot-in-the-head/5252/11 "1999-12-09T20:22:00Z")
Dex might deny that allegation, but he can’t deny the allegator. ---
**Author:** ![Greg\_Charles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/839c29/32.png) [@Greg\_Charles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Greg_Charles)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 1999, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-shot-in-the-head/5252/12 "1999-12-10T01:40:00Z")
You’re not legally dead until a doctor pronounces you dead, which they don’t do until they’re pretty damned sure you’re not going to revive. On the other hand, let’s assume for the sake of argument that you were pronounced dead, then came back to life, and yet weren’t killed again by the doctor for making him look bad. Lawyers have what I’ve always considered a useful phrase: _res ipsa loquitur_, the thing speaks for itself. In this case no dead guy means no murder. ---
**Author:** ![Cooper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/50afbb/32.png) [@Cooper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cooper)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 1999, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-shot-in-the-head/5252/13 "1999-12-10T22:18:00Z")
Ok, what if you are murdered but you have a will that dictates you will be cryogenically frozen after death. Then 30 years later, while the murderer is still serving his life sentence, the miracle of nanotechnology is responsible for bring you back to life. Is there a mistrial? ---
**Author:** ![SoulFrost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f07891/32.png) [@SoulFrost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SoulFrost)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 1999, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-shot-in-the-head/5252/14 "1999-12-11T00:00:00Z")
Of course not, Cooper… The newly revived murder victim would simply hop into a time machine and kill the murderer before the original murder took place. Unless the murderer is the victim’s grandfather. -David