Posted on 03/08/2002 12:22:29 PM PST by flamefront
Edited on 04/22/2004 12:32:45 AM PDT by Jim Robinson. [history]
murder of a public safety officer or firefighter;
murder during the commission of kidnapping, burglary, robbery, aggravated sexual assault, arson, or obstruction or retaliation;
We have a winner!
By ignoring it, I bet. This case is more airtight than Tupperware.
Only thing now is to decide punishment. She'd be a fool to plead 'Not Guilty'.
Her actions and her lawyer's words: monstrous and inhuman.
Sure, Officer Doofy! What's your argument?
I certainly hope she is put away for life, if nothing else.
In some jurisdictions, that may be true. Your state may vary.
They'd support the "right" of people to develop, manufacture, transport, market, sell, and consume any drug in any quantity to anyone at any time for any reason, even unto death.
It doesn't even have to involve the abrogation of the inalienable right to life; even a drug which thwarts free will, or cripples personal responsibility, or hinders the ability to self-defense, to think and act rationally, to sit on a jury, to study and debate issues of public policy, and to vote. They themselves may not be into such evils, but such evils are okay for other people to endure. Such is the hallmark of moral-liberalism and PC moral-cowardice.
Now there's a new one...is that called 'P', for predestinationedrine?
I disagree in part. I think she clearly kidnapped the guy.
In the Texas Penal Code, a person commits kidnapping if he: "Intentionally or knowingly abducts another person."
The Penal Code defines 'abduct':
"Abduct" means to restrain a person with intent to prevent his liberation by:
(A) secreting or holding him in a place where he is not likely to be found; or
...
It defines 'restrain':
"Restrain means to restrict a person's movements without consent, so as to interfere substantially with the person's liberty, by moving the person from one place to another or by confining the person."
She restrained him to prevent his liberation - because had she not done so she would have 'gotten in trouble' for hitting him in the first place. She clearly continued on her way, deliberately, in order to avoid apprehension. Actually, that fact alone makes it aggravated kidnapping (two felony degrees higher than simple 'kidnapping'). I don't think it's fair to say that she didn't restrain him - she put him in a position where he could not free himself (by hitting him) and then refused to extricate him from that situation. That in my mind is restraining him.
The kidnapping combined with the murder makes it capital murder. I am positive you could sell a jury on capital murder, but perhaps not the death penalty. A conviction where the state doesn't seek the death penalty carries a mandatory life sentence. In contrast, first degree murder can be punished by as few as 5 years in prison.
-bc
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