Posted on 02/15/2006 1:24:33 PM PST by iPod Shuffle
If lawyer dies, Cheney could face negligent homicide charges
02/15/2006 02:42:17 PM
DALLAS (AP) -- If the man wounded by Dick Cheney dies, the vice president could -- in theory at least -- face criminal charges, even though the shooting was an accident.
Dallas defense attorney David Finn, who has been a state and a federal prosecutor, said Wednesday that a Texas grand jury could bring a charge of criminally negligent homicide if there is evidence the vice president knew or should have known "there was a substantial or unjustifiable risk that his actions would result in him shooting a fellow hunter."
"The risk must be of such a nature and degree that it got to be pretty outrageous -- that a reasonable person would have to say, `I am not pulling the trigger because this other guy might be in front of me,"' Finn said. *
The charge carries up to two years behind bars, but with no previous felonies Cheney would be eligible for probation, the former prosecutor said.
Mark Skurka, first assistant district attorney of the three-county area where the shooting took place, said prosecutors did not have an investigation under way.
"If something unfortunate happens, then we'll decide what to do, then we'll decide whether we're going to have an investigation or not," Skurka said.
Harry Whittington, a 78-year-old lawyer, was struck in the face, neck and chest with shotgun pellets over the weekend while Cheney was shooting at quail. Whittington suffered a mild heart attack Tuesday after a pellet traveled to his heart.
But on Wednesday, hospital officials said he had a normal heart rhythm again and was sitting up in a chair, eating regular food and planned to do some legal work in his hospital room. Doctors said they are highly optimistic he will recover.
In the only other case of someone being shot by a vice president, Aaron Burr was indicted on murder charges in New York and New Jersey for killing Alexander Hamilton in a duel in 1804, but he was never tried and finished out his term in office.
"If the man wounded by Dick Cheney dies, the vice president could -- in theory at least -- face criminal charges, even though the shooting was an accident."
Wow, Cheney's in big trouble. There is a %100 chance the victim will die
You just said it. Its become a story about the story.
The human part of the story is the only part thats interesting to me. I'm satisfied with the way it was handled, personally. Law enforcement was informed right away, the guy was treated medically right away, and the newspapers were informed in the morning. The Washington Press Corps hemorrhage doesn't interest me, except for the fact that it occurred.
I want to know if the guy is alright, I'd be interested to know if they were drinking. (If they were, it might explain why they didn't want to talk to law enforcement right away). If they want to make a Big Issue out of it all, they've lost my interest. Which was my point; what interests the press is different from what interests me, and this might explain why some media are losing market share.
This is a great story; its not every day your vice president shoots someone. But as a political story, its a non-story.
If this were about Kerry, I'd be having a field day with the one-liners, and so would everyone else. And I'd see it as more proof that Kerry was a poser, pretending to be a hunter when he doesn't know how to shoot. Since its Cheney, I assume he knows how to shoot, so I assume he messed up. Its still pretty funny, as long as the other guy doesn't die (upon which time most of the humor disappears).
He will die sometime, everybody eventually dies. He is 78 years old you know. Here's a prediction: No matter how old he is when he dies, when he dies the press will deem it to have been as a direct result of this incident and Dick Cheney will be blamed for it.
Yes. I guarantee that when he eventually dies, the press will directly blame Dick Cheney for it. Mark my words.
LOL How true!
I think your right, saying that the trauma and lead poisoning tooks years off his life.
Yawn.....
These liberal idiots don't thing ahead....if they manage to get Chaney out of office, they are shooting themselves in the foot....that would only lead to a possible VP that could run for office. I would laugh my behind off and he resigned and bush got Rice in as VP or even Allen or Rudy....
Either way they the DUmmies would have to face a presidential canidate with experience.
Such as driving drunk with your mistress back from the beach at night, plunging your car over the side of a bridge, getting out and walking to a friend's house to sleep it off, and letting your mistress drown when the pocket of air she is trapped in leaks out over the course of several hours? Is that the kind of stupidity you are referring to that you can be prosecuted for?
Hey, iPod, I see this is posted from the Sioux City Journal. You close by there?
when have facts ever stopped liberals from saying or spreading stuff like that?
When did the woman who owns that ranch become the vice president's press secretary?
How was informing the press her duty?
The powerball is a tax on people bad at math
And if my aunt had balls she could be my uncle....
Anyone know what three counties these are? The ranch is in Kenedy (yes 1 N)County with less than a thousand people who all work for the Armstrongs or one of their extended family. A trial is HIGHLY unlikely.
If he dies and if Cheney is found to be negligent, then he would have to answer to the charge of negligent homicide. In his statement today he has as much as admitted to negligence. He says he didn't see him, but then when you have a gun in your hand that really isn't an excuse. He had a duty to ensure that when he pulled the trigger that there were no people in his sight. He breached that duty, hence he was obviously negligent. This is one of those "res ipsa loquitur" situations (the thing speaks for itself."
I doubt there would be a felony charge here since there was no reckless disregard for human life, but I don't see how Cheny can avoid a misdemeanor involuntary manslaughter charge. Any of us would have to face such a charge. Cheney should not be exempt.
That being said, this is a tempest in a teapot. Something akin to crashing your car because you were looking at your cell phone.
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