In the sense that both Jesus and Luigi were criminals. Not making a comparison between Jesus and Mangione; just that they were both wanted by authorities and were turned in. The point of the joke is that the McDonald’s employee and Judas informed the authorities with the expectation of receiving a fat paycheck. Judas actually got paid.
One other difference: Judas betrayed a friend and a bond of trust.
There’s no such expectation of a random citizen reporting the sighting of a random criminal.
News item: Florida woman charged with making terroristic threats to health insurance company.
Judge sets bail at $100,000.
42 year old mother of three has never been in trouble with the law before.
Saw where someone claimed to have received this in email
Jeez people are stupid assholes.
That’s a really bizarre way of defining first-degree murder. The usual definition in most jurisdictions is that it’s premeditated. I don’t know about New York state specifically, but maximum penalties for second-degree murder are often similar to those for first-degree, so I still think this guy is going to get 25 years to life.
I suspect they’re referring to a murder committed in the course of something like an armed robbery. Apparently a simple assassination doesn’t count.
Okay, I’ve probably told this anecdote before, but here goes. When Bernhard Goetz killed four people on a subway, he was charged with attempted murder and some other things, but not first-degree murder. I was in the eighth grade, and I asked the social studies teacher, “He looked one of them in the eye and said ‘You don’t look hurt enough.’ How is that not first-degree murder?”
“Because in New York State, it’s only Murder One if you kill a cop or a prison guard…Yeah, I agree. Between this and Son of Sam, and John Lennon being killed, and that punk rocker who killed his girlfriend, a lot of people are calling for that law to be changed.”
And it still hasn’t. Go figure, as we said in the '80s.
Probably because none of his victims died.
Why? The name doesn’t effect anything.
And it barely affects the sentence - first degree murder gets 25 - life , second degree gets a minimum term of 15-25 years to life If this guy is convicted, I’m sure he’ll get 25-life. (Theoretically, first degree murder can get a sentence of life without parole)
He may get the John Hinckley treatment and be in a mental institution for a few decades and actually get out some day. That would be my hope as his defense attorney.
Oh. Well, okay. Carry on.
Given how thorough his planning was, and that he was otherwise a functional human being, I don’t think the insanity defense has even a ghost of a chance.
Granted it was over 40 years ago but Hinkley was equally thorough and functional. Maybe more functional given that he had a job. He was way more delusional though. Luigi’s motive was at least coherent.
Hinkley’s acquittal, however, led to a huge backlash against the insanity defense. IIRC, Federal law specifically was changed to make it harder to be successful, and I believe several states followed suit. I don’t know what rule NY uses, but I would be surprised if someone who used planning and escaped (suggesting he both understood what he was doing and that it would be viewed as wrong) would be successful.
Anyway, I wouldn’t take Hinkley has representative of current practice because Hinkley’s case itself led to widespread changes.
Hinckley was delusional, and that was proven in court.
Do we have any evidence Mangione was delusional at the time he committed the murder?
It’s not impossible, just very, very unlikely.
That makes a big difference , as does the relevant law. The insanity defense in New York requires the defendant to prove that due to a mental disease or defect they lacked the capacity to know or understand the nature and consequences of their conduct or to know that their conduct is wrong. I believe that is the standard under Federal law now, but it wasn’t in 1982. At that time, the prosecution would have had to prove that Hinkley was sane , and he could have been found not guilty if the jury found that he was unable to conform his conduct to the law , even if he knew what he was doing and that it was wrong.
And of course, Hinkley’s acquittal was the reason for the change.
Yanno, on further reflection, I think my memory was a bit off. It may have been the Sullivan laws that Mr. C said people wanted to change. I mean, that was forty years ago…
…and this is a hell of a way to come full circle.
Lotta folks cite Louisiana law as being unlike tbe other 49 states.
NY law is likewise quite weird compared to the other 48. More in terms of terminology than of function. But still real weird.
Not least in calling its trial court the NY Supreme Court.