Man Kills Drunk Driver Who Killed His Kids - Your Take
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Palum
what Suineg set it to
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Void
BAU BAU
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Everyone is assuming that the father actually did it in making their pronouncements. Now, more than likely he did, but that isn't how it works in court. I promise you that, among other things, the defense attorney is going to present possible alternatives like a neighbor that had watched the boys grow up, or a relative perhaps, taking matters into their own hands. In the absence of any evidence besides "I'm pretty sure I'd have done the same thing" you can't convict the father. This has nothing to do with whether or not I think I would do the same thing (I would), and everything to do with the legal process. No gunshot residue, no gun, no witnesses seeing him actually shoot (going up to the car and "hiding" something is about as shitty of an eyewitness report as you can get, I am not a lawyer and I could shoot holes in that without even trying), and no confession means there is practically zero chance this guy is convicted of anything. Barring any new evidence or witnesses coming forward, of course.
Uh, that's exactly how it works in court. Establishing reasonable doubt doesn't mean that the prosecution has to present CCTV footage or a proverbial smoking gun. A lot of these cases rely on circumstantial evidence rather than direct evidence (gunshot residue, fingerprints, etc.).
This happened less than 100 yards from the dude's house mere minutes after the crash. According to the father's own words, he never left the scene which is even more damning. Did some stranger just come from the darkness and put a bullet in the guy's head for no reason?
iannis
Musty Nester
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No one contests what should be done if he's innocent. The question is specifically what should be done if he's guilty. That's the place where there's something interesting and worthwhile to consider.
How to prove that guilt as a practical matter is a different thing and honestly a much less interesting one.
How to prove that guilt as a practical matter is a different thing and honestly a much less interesting one.
Noodleface
A Mod Real Quick
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He doesn't need to give proof of what actually happened, as long as there is minimal evidence that he did it he will walk free.
Void
BAU BAU
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Eh, everyone else is debating degrees of guilt and punishment, but a few seem to be completely ignoring certain things, like
Barring further evidence, obviously.
which seem to completely ignore some of the "facts" of the case as we have been presented them, such as
It wouldn't be difficult at all for a defense attorney to put reasonable doubt into a jury if a bunch of neighbors, maybe even with kids of similar ages, were some of those that showed up at the scene. Sure, the chances of them doing it are much smaller, but some of those small towns are pretty tight knit. And if we are going with the assumption that the father did it, obviously at least some of those neighbors are willing to lie about him doing it, right? Where is the line of how good of friends they are? They'll lie about a murder, maybe they'd do it too? That's all pretty easy reasonable doubt for me.
Barring further evidence, obviously.
Where's the gun? Where's a witness to him disposing of the gun? Where's the GSR on his hand? Where's a witness to the shooting? You have a crash, you get people coming out to look at it. And yet nobody saw anything. This was basically right outside his home- does he have neighbors who knew the boys and saw what happened, and do any of them have guns? There's no evidence that he shot him, and there are other possible shooters. Is it likely he shot him? Yes, but there is some doubt.
Eomer
Trakanon Raider
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I think the question was more about the our feelings on the general situation, morally, and less about the specific legal details and evidence. 98% of the evidence required to have an informed opinion on this are probably not publicly available at this time. If they can't prove beyond a reasonable doubt that he did it, then of course he shouldn't be found guilty.
But like I said, if he did do it, I can't condone it, even if I'd probably want to do the same in his shoes.
Ambiturner
Ssraeszha Raider
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Yeah this guy having killed the guy or not isn't the point of the discussion. It's "Do you think there's situations outside of self defense where killing another person is acceptable?"
One of his sons was cut in half. He saw this, then smelled alcohol when he looked into the crushed vehicle of the driver.
I would have shot this guy from the toes up.
I would have shot this guy from the toes up.
Always wondered why our execution methods are so elaborate.
I feel like off the top of my head I'm coming up with preposterous methods, but... I mean you could just drop a guy head first down a hole that's like 100 feet deep.
Then just incinerate the hole a little bit afterward. Self cleaning.
Quineloe
Ahn'Qiraj Raider
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See, that's inefficiency at its worst. Have the guy who's next clean up the guy who was last. If I had my own death penalty, I'd just pile the bodies behind the post.
Gavinmad
Mr. Poopybutthole
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