# James Brady's death ruled homicide - from bullet **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [August 8, 2014, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-bradys-death-ruled-homicide-from-bullet/695128 "2014-08-08T22:47:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![CoolHandCox](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/coolhandcox/32/16233_2.png) [@CoolHandCox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CoolHandCox)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2014, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-bradys-death-ruled-homicide-from-bullet/695128/1 "2014-08-08T22:47:19Z")
[Article](http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/crime/james-bradys-death-ruled-homicide-by-dc-medical-examiner/2014/08/08/686de224-1f41-11e4-82f9-2cd6fa8da5c4_story.html). > [@](#): > > The death on Monday of President Ronald Reagan’s press secretary James S. Brady, has been ruled a homicide as a result of the gunshot wound he suffered in an assassination attempt on Reagan in 1981, according to District police department’s chief spokeswoman. How can a bullet fired in 1981 kill someone in 2014? Has this kind of latency in the cause of death from a gunshot happened before? ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2014, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-bradys-death-ruled-homicide-from-bullet/695128/2 "2014-08-08T22:52:25Z")
[GQ thread here](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=730591) ---
**Author:** ![Mike\_H](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecd19e/32.png) [@Mike\_H](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mike_H)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2014, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-bradys-death-ruled-homicide-from-bullet/695128/3 "2014-08-08T22:57:13Z")
David Gunby was one of the victims of Charles Whitman’s shooting rampage in Austin, Texas in 1966. [He died in 2001](http://articles.latimes.com/2001/nov/16/local/me-4897). His death was ruled a homicide. In both cases , Brady’s and Gunby’s, their deaths can be directly attributable to the actions of their attackers, hence a homicide. I doubt Hinckley will be prosecuted, though. ---
**Author:** ![CoolHandCox](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/coolhandcox/32/16233_2.png) [@CoolHandCox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CoolHandCox)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2014, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-bradys-death-ruled-homicide-from-bullet/695128/4 "2014-08-09T00:03:54Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > [GQ thread here](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=730591) Thanks ---
**Author:** ![Reepicheep](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ed655f/32.png) [@Reepicheep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reepicheep)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2014, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-bradys-death-ruled-homicide-from-bullet/695128/5 "2014-08-09T02:01:23Z")
I thought there was a year and a day rule in the District. Since I am obviously mistaken can someone more knowledgeable than me tell me when it ended? ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2014, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-bradys-death-ruled-homicide-from-bullet/695128/6 "2014-08-09T23:53:02Z")
Well, if nothing else, Hinckley can now justly be called a killer and not an attempted killer. ---
**Author:** ![CoolHandCox](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/coolhandcox/32/16233_2.png) [@CoolHandCox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CoolHandCox)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2014, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-bradys-death-ruled-homicide-from-bullet/695128/7 "2014-08-10T01:06:47Z")
Would it have mattered how old Brady was when he died? Say he lived until 99, still a homicide? Seems silly. I’m not saying the bullet wasn’t a factor in his death, but it just seems odd that it can legitimately be called the cause of death. ---
**Author:** ![Drum\_God](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drum_god/32/44_2.png) [@Drum\_God](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drum_God)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2014, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-bradys-death-ruled-homicide-from-bullet/695128/8 "2014-08-11T03:26:59Z")
> [@CoolHandCox](#): > > Would it have mattered how old Brady was when he died? Say he lived until 99, still a homicide? Seems silly. I’m not saying the bullet wasn’t a factor in his death, but it just seems odd that it can legitimately be called the cause of death. Why not? He had health issues for the remainder of his life after he was wounded. Those health issues were directly attributable to the wound he received due to Hinckley’s actions. Had Hinckley not injured him, maybe Brady would have lived to 99. ---
**Author:** ![CoolHandCox](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/coolhandcox/32/16233_2.png) [@CoolHandCox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CoolHandCox)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2014, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-bradys-death-ruled-homicide-from-bullet/695128/9 "2014-08-11T03:49:25Z")
> [@Drum\_God](#): > > Why not? He had health issues for the remainder of his life after he was wounded. Those health issues were directly attributable to the wound he received due to Hinckley’s actions. Had Hinckley not injured him, maybe Brady would have lived to 99. I’d say the cause of death would be the health issue. When 33 years go by there’s too many other factors that come into play. I understand your point, though. I don’t know why I’m so hung up on this. ---
**Author:** ![Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/f04885/32.png) [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qin_Shi_Huangdi)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2014, 7:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-bradys-death-ruled-homicide-from-bullet/695128/10 "2014-08-11T07:45:38Z")
In relation to this… [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joshua\_Chamberlain#Later\_life\_and\_death](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joshua_Chamberlain#Later_life_and_death) > [@](#): > > Chamberlain died of his lingering wartime wounds in 1914 at Portland, Maine, at the age of eighty-five. He is interred at Pine Grove Cemetery in Brunswick, Maine.[1] Beside him as he died was Dr. Abner O. Shaw of Portland, one of the two surgeons who had operated on him in Petersburg 50 years previously. A full study of his medical history strongly suggests that it was complications from the wound suffered at Petersburg that resulted in his death.[17] He was the last Civil War veteran to die as a result of wounds from the war.[18]