So I’m watching the Simpsons, which is the authoritative guide to life…
In the 2nd “who shot Mr. Burns” episode, Smithers shoots the old geezer (forgot name) in his artificial leg. I know that the cartoon is false (Smithers was released), but what would the suspect be charged with: attempted murder, assualt or some other crime?
Seems like an easy case for assault or attempted murder. IIRC, assault doesn’t require physical contact.
Oh, and the geezer is Jasper, I do believe…
“You shot who with the what now?”
IIRC correctly from my law school days, “assault” is the action of inducing fear in someone.
IIRC manny has a VERY low tolerance for these kinds of threads being posted in GQ, especially while he’s hurt, and will prolly be along in a minute with the padlock.
PS Manny - next time celebrate St P’s Day in Sydney - we have civilised huge partie here 
I think that would be destruction of property or attempt to murder not anything any further
It is a forum where factual answers are expected, and people are expected to be able to back up those answers with credible citations.
We have quite a few lawyers on this board who will probably chime in here, but I suspect that the scenario postulated is not regulated by federal law and that therefore there are as many valid legal answers as there are states.
There are many times when questions of fact have arisen out of TV programmes and been asked and answered in this forum.
Cartoon programmes can generate valid GQs - hell a whole lot of people had never even heard of Steven Hawking until he was animated.
But common sense should tell the OP that in real life, unlike in The Simpsons, there is no definitive law relating to the shooting of prostheses.
If you want to talk about whether there should be different laws relating to injury to biological as opposed to synthetic body parts, then Great Debates is right around the corner.
I think intent is the important thing, unless the shooter was at point blank range and could prove that they were shooting only to injure, not to kill, they could probably get attempted murder. I heard of a case where someone either shot or stabbed someone in bed, and it was later proven that the victim was already dead of natural causes at the time of the attack. The person was found guilty of attempted murder.
Attempted murder, no less. The person had intent to kill (unless he can prove otherwise) and it was the victim’s luck that prevented that homicide. Intent plays a vital role in the US legal system.
As a prosthesis wearer (left leg, above knee) for 23 years, all I can say is thank god he didn’t shoot my good leg.