Second Degree Murder: DefinitionIt's sounding more and more to me that Gray's fatal injury was caused by his neck hitting an exposed bolt in the van. I'm also guessing that the DA's justification for a 2nd-degree murder charge is that the police were operating the prisoner van in a negligent manner, when in fact Gray was thrashing around in the back of the van, accidentally landing on the bolt.Second-degree murder is ordinarily defined as: 1) an intentional killing that is not premeditated or planned, nor committed in a reasonable "heat of passion"; or 2) a killing caused by dangerous conduct and the offender's obvious lack of concern for human life. Second-degree murder may best be viewed as the middle ground between first-degree murder and voluntary manslaughter.
You were in the van with Gray and saw this? Otherwise it isn't a fact, but merely your opinion.
If you read the various news reports carefully it becomes clear that it wasn’t an exposed bolt. Modern paddy wagons don’t have exposed bolts. What they do have is bolt heads that are flush with the surrounding surfaces. They won’t jab into you, but if your head hits a surface where a bolt head happens to be, it will leave a tell-tale six sided mark. His injuries were caused by impact against a flat surface in the van. This is evidenced by the bolt mark(s) that apparently are on him.
It should complete the story and give us facts we don't know yet.