Comments on: Asheville firefighter who shot at cyclist will not receive attempted murder charge

By: Scott

Scott — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 16:09:49 +0000

And yeah Eric, I do agree that if the gun had been in the cyclist’s hand, he would not have gotten the same “poison-pill” play from the DA – the full weight of the entire city would have come down on him like a ton ‘o bricks.

By: Scott

Scott — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 16:04:13 +0000

Regardless of how possible it is to stretch the law’s definition to suit any whim, what it really comes down to is a jury’s common sense differentiation of what *they* know as “premeditation” vs. reacting in a flash of anger – the latter being something that every single jury member has done to a lesser degree at some point. Attempted second degree murder would’ve been a slam-dunk, first degree might’ve been possible but hardly probable, and the DA had to have known that as well as anybody – it *is* his job to pursue the most likely route to conviction after all, if conviction is what he’s really after here.

By: Michael McKisson

Michael McKisson — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 00:48:48 +0000

If that isn’t how the LAW looks at it, it should be.

By: Michael McKisson

Michael McKisson — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 00:48:07 +0000

Guns are designed to kill things. If you shoot a gun at someone, you are attempting to kill the person you are shooting at.

If that isn’t how the lay looks at it, it should be.

By: Erik

Erik — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 23:58:01 +0000

Premeditation is a red herring. I’ll never forget the day in Crim Law when we all learned, to our surprise, that in the law “premeditation” can occur in the blink of an eye, immediately prior to the finger pulling the trigger.

I don’t know what happened here but I know it is not hard to get a grand jury to indict — the defendant is not present and not represented in the proceeding, and the rules of evidence are very lax. The common saying is that any competent prosecutor ought to be able to indict a ham sandwich in a grand jury proceeding.

I’m thinking if the cyclist had shot the fireman, this whole thing would be unfolding very, very differently.

EBR

By: Scott

Scott — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 22:58:23 +0000

Read the linked story – “attempted first degree murder” – which would require pre-meditation and was the wrong charge to start with, so I have little doubt that the GJ rejected it. The DA should have given them the option of attempted second degree murder, which is the proper NC charge to fit this crime and thus would’ve passed a Grand Jury with flying colors. It certainly looks like the DA, for whatever motivation, gave them the option between a “lowball” charge and one that they would have no choice but to reject, so as to force the lowball charge without having to personally take the heat. (“Hey, it wasn’t me – the Grand Jury picked that charge!”)

By: George

George — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 22:15:38 +0000

I was not present in the grand jury room and do not know the facts no have no comment.

By: Michael McKisson

Michael McKisson — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 03:31:11 +0000

Disgusting. No other words for it.