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To: driftless2
"First degree murder? That would mean the cop planned to shoot Scott all along."

Premeditation necessary to raise murder to the first degree can occur in an instant. The accused does not have to plan the murder beforehand, he merely has to have an opportunity to reflect and act deliberately. "Premeditation is defined as more than a mere intent to kill; it is a fully formed conscious purpose to kill ... This purpose to kill may be formed a moment before the act but must exist for a sufficient length of time to permit reflection as to the nature of the act to be committed and the probable result of that act." See Berube v. State, 5 So. 3d 734 (Fla. Sup. Ct. 2009). See also People v. Harris, 185 P. 3d 727 (Ca. Sup Ct. 2008), "The process of premeditation and deliberation does not require any extended period of time. The true test is not the duration of time as much as it is the extent of the reflection. Thoughts may follow each other with great rapidity and cold, calculated judgment may be arrived at quickly."

I would argue after looking at the video that perhaps no more than the first three shots were done without premeditation, but certainly after that officer had a time to reflect on what he was doing by virtue of the following deliberate shots 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8, he had formed the requisite intent to kill sufficient to be guilty of premeditation.

459 posted on 04/12/2015 4:51:52 PM PDT by PUGACHEV
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To: PUGACHEV
That's if it can be determined if he was thinking clearly the whole time. If he was tasered (not yet proven), he might not have been in his right mind the whole time. Again, let's wait for more evidence to come in before making judgment.
466 posted on 04/12/2015 4:55:29 PM PDT by driftless2 (For long term happiness, learn how to play the accordion.)
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To: PUGACHEV

Complete nonsense. No premeditation detectable whatsoever.


504 posted on 04/12/2015 5:59:22 PM PDT by IChing
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