Bob’s wife, Carol, was murdered by Ted. Ted was duly tried and convicted and sentenced to death. After the appeals process was exhausted, Ted was finally set to be executed. The technicians strap Ted to a gurney, wheel him to the execution chamber, insert the IV’s, then insert each of the syringes, an anesthetic, a muscle relaxant, and potassium chloride, into the IV lines, ready to be squeezed by Alice the executioner. Alice enters the side chamber and waits for the signal from the warden to start the execution.
The witnesses, including Bob, file into the witness chamber. The warden pulls back the curtain and asks the condemned, Ted, if he has any last words to say. Ted goes on a rant, insulting Carol, taunting Bob, saying how much he enjoyed killing Carol as she pleaded for her life. Bob goes ballistic, bursts out of the witness room, knocks down the guards, breaks into the executioner’s side chamber, decks Alice with a neat left hook, and seeing the attached syringe marked potassium chloride, grabs it and squeezes it with all his might. The guards finally grab a hold of Bob, but it’s too late – Ted writhes in pain as the potassium chloride stops his heart and he dies seconds later.
I think yes, it is murder.
However I also think that in a democratic society where there is a death penalty, everyone (including me) who hasn’t campaigned against the death penalty is as morally responsible for pushing the syringe as the executioner. So Bob could just have waited. The guy was executed by “we the people” including Bob.
So, according to you, if I didn’t **campaign **against the death penalty, I am as guilty of murder as Bob under this circumstance? You have got to be kidding.
To the question… I think technically, Bob committed murder, however I doubt any jury would convict him. In fact, if all he did was push the plunger that was in place, I don’t even know if I’d prosecute. Ted was going down for the count anyway, and who pushes the plunger is immaterial.
I wonder if Ted killed my wife, if I wouldn’t want the option of pushing the plunger, flipping the switch, or whatever was required to take the scumbag off the planet. The law may disagree with me, however.
Considering the circumstances, though - Ted’s about to be executed anyway, Bob’s under extreme emotional duress, etc. - pretty sure I wouldn’t vote to convict him if I were on the jury.
Once everyone is settled in the witness chamber, Bob feigns a need to go to the bathroom. A guard escorts him down the hall to the restroom and waits. Since Bob is taking a long time, the guard saunters back down the hall to talk with another guard while he waits. Bob, hearing the guard moving away, peeks out the door, then slips out unnoticed. He quickly finds the executor’s side chamber, slips in, and knocks out Alice with a sleeper hold. After a few minutes, the execution buzzer sounds, so Bob slowly squeezes each syringe in order, first the anesthetic, then the relaxant, and finally the potassium chloride. As Ted lays there dying, Bob slips back out into the hall, but there is a commotion and Bob is apprehended by the guards.
I ask again, in this scenario: Did Bob commit murder?
IANALawyer, but I would still say it was murder. Though I seriously doubt that there wouldn’t be other people prison staff to witness and intervene on the assault on Alice.
Also, if there were no witness to what Bob did, and exactly when, it might not be possible to prove that he waited until the execution signal was delivered. He definitely had the intent to kill, and took the first steps toward that goal – assaulting Alice – before the death order was issued.
One nit-pik. Only one plunger/button is pushed. The deadly mixture is administered automatically.
This sounds more pre-meditated. However, you left out a very important part of this story. Does Bob use alcohol to sterilize the skin before putting the needle into Ted’s vein? If not, that’s cruel and unusual punishment. You can’t just go around putting someone to sleep without a sterile environment.
For a legal answer, you have to specify the jurisdiction, since the laws of murder will vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction.
For instance, if hypothetically there were capital punishment of this sort in Canada, I would say yes, it would be murder, based on the Criminal Code’s classification of homicides:
Since Bob is not a member of the prison staff, charged with the lawful duty of executing anyone, he’s killing the prisoner by means of an unlawful act. He has no lawful authority to kill the prisoner. As well, it sounds pretty intentional, so that would make it murder.
If Ted had been sentenced to life in prison instead and i intercept him on the way to jail and steal him away and lock him up in my basement did i kidnap him or not?
One thing to consider is how the death warrant from the judge is worded and what statutes or case law is in place surrounding execution of judicial orders.
For example, the warrant might simply state that “Said defendant shall be executed on Februrary 1st, 2011.”, and there might be law in place in the jurisdiction that states that any citizen may execute a judicial order unless the order specifies who may perform it. In Virginia, I believe that arrest warrants may be lawfully executed by any certified law enforcement officer, regardless of whether or not their supervisor or anyone in their department told them that they should execute the warrant or if that officer is one whose job normally involves executing warrants. If this applies to death warrants too, and if Bob is employed as a cop, prison guard, probation officer, game warden, or other similar position, he might get off with only a reprimand from his supervisor for intermeddling in another department’s affairs.
Even if Bob is technically guilty, I can see this as being a case for prosecutorial discretion. Perhaps a charge of Assault or Obstruction of Justice (both less serious than murder) might do?
If Bob was driven by intense emotions (quite a possibility), he might only be guilty of Voluntary Manslaughter in fact.
Speaking as a Law and Order aficionado, not a lawyer, manslaughter is an appropriate charge when a person kills with the intention to kill or cause bodily harm, but there are mitigating circumstances which reduce culpability. For instance, in this case Bob was provoked by Ted in a way that might cause a reasonable person to lose self-control.
It would be murder because there is always a possibility, however small, that a last minute reprieve could be issued to save Ted. For example, the sentence could be overturned because new and contradictory evidence turns up. Note that Bob’s act must always occur before the moment of execution as set by the courts. Therefore, Bob’s premature act would deny justice to both Ted and to his late wife. He would certainly stand accused of murder, although, given the provocation, manslaughter or a lesser charge would more likely apply.
