This is mostly to satisfy my own curiosity, since the world in which I wrote this story doesn’t seem to distinguish all of the finer points of U.S. criminal law, but I just had to go and wonder how it would play out in our world.
There’s this man, let’s call him Mr. E. For years, he’s been forging letters as one Mr. H to blackmail Mr. K about a past incident that Mr. K very much wants covered up. He arranges (using more forgery) for Mr. H and Mr. K to meet one another at a clandestine spot. Knowing that he’s set the stage for a violent confrontation, Mr. E also goes to the same location to see it all go down, armed with a gun just in case.
As suspected, things go horribly wrong. Mr. E walks in on Mr. K from behind just as Mr. K (fatally) shoots Mr. H. As Mr. K is turning around, Mr. E panics, shoots Mr. K and flees the scene.
Years lato, Mr. E’s conscience catches up to him and he turns himself over to the police, confessing of all the crime(s) that he committed.
Assuming the police end up with all of this in evidence, what would Mr. E be charged with?