>> I don’t understand why the charge was 1st degree murder. It wasn’t premeditated. <<
So you go into your apartment and find someone else there. You immediately kill the person and then realize, “Oops! Wrong apartment!” Well, now you have to convince a jury that you were reasonable in killing that person immediately, or else you get charged with manslaughter. But if the jury doesn’t believe the killing was a mistake, why should they believe it was a mistake you went up there in the first place. I’ve lived in apartment buildings and actually went to the wrong door, and the first sign something was amiss snapped me to the reality I was in the wrong place. “Oh wow! There’s someone in my apartment!” “Oh wow, they got all new but used furtiture!” “Oh, wow! They brought a TV for themselves!”
I have this theory about police officers. Their thinking becomes jaded. They see people at their worst day in and day out, that has a psychological effect on them. Some of the most normal of circumstances can come across as dangerous to them.
Even a normal “armed” person would have taken at least a couple more seconds to analyze the situation before resorting to pulling the trigger.
She made a tragic mistake. And she’s going to pay for it. And this jury has two white people and 10 minorities. They will not just give her 5 years. I think she deserves about 10 years, but I suspect this jury gives her 20 or more.
Eons ago, I found out some apts. had the same key after a couple of times someone would open my door and IMMEDIATELY shut it before taking one step in. I had a furnished apt. so it would be similar to others but every time, people knew in a split second it wasn’t theirs.