Victim of a schoolyard brawl dies nine years later

Associated Press ^ | March 6, 2003 | James Prichard

[wallcrawlr]

WEST BLOOMFIELD TOWNSHIP, Mich. -- Nearly nine years ago, Desmon Venn threw a single punch at a high school classmate and put him in a coma. Venn pleaded guilty to assault, spent two months in a boot camp and figured he had paid his debt to society.

Then, last month, the victim died of his injuries, and prosecutors brought involuntary manslaughter charges against Venn.

Now 26, he could get up to 15 years behind bars if convicted in the death of Zuhair Pattah.

Venn's lawyer, Elbert Hatchett, said the charges violate Venn's constitutional protection against double jeopardy, or being prosecuted twice for the same crime. He also said the state's six-year window for filing an upgraded charge after such a crime has long since slammed shut.

``When they elected to prosecute him then, they forfeited the right to prosecute him thereafter for the same behavior,'' Hatchett said.

[Politically Correct]

Prosecuted for assault 9 years ago.
Porsecuted for manslaughter now.

doesn't sound like double jeopardy to me.

[mvpel]

From another thread:

What is impossible to quantify, however, is the deeper effect of trying to eradicate all bullying. Richard Hazler, a professor of counselor education at Ohio University, who has taught seminars on curbing bullying, says, "There's a normalcy in this whole process. I don't want to say that bullying is okay. But it's a teaching tool for kids. It teaches them to get along with people, how to use power, the victims--how to obtain power when not in power positions. How do we stop bullying and victimization? I hate to make this case in public. But we don't entirely want to--because if kids didn't have it--how would they learn? These are mistakes they're making. We want a cooperative atmosphere, but we also want to show them how to deal with aggression."

[xJones]

This story is terrible.

Pattah was 16 and Venn 17 when Venn punched him between the eyes during a melee in the parking lot of West Bloomfield High in 1994. Pattah fell backward, hitting his head on the pavement with such force that his brain stem was severed.

Pattah came from a deeply religious Chaldean Christian family that had immigrated 30 years before from Iraq. Desmon Venn has been in and out of trouble ever since. That was one hell of a punch, and the 16 year-old lingered in a coma for 9 years.

[jude24]

Serves him right.

Although I expect the defense will try to dispute causation (i.e., that the deceadant's death was not causatively due to the actions of the defendant).

I would. however, be suprised if it worked.

[Catspaw]

There was a similar case in our county. Two punks beat up a bass player for a jazz quartet who was outside a local bar for a break. He was in a coma for 3-4 years before he died. His lawyers tried to claim double jeopardy because they'd been tried for assault & were now charged murder or manslaughter (I can't remember which), but the appeals court ruled against them. Both the punks ended up with another 50 years consecutive to the 20 they were already serving for the assault charge.

[gcruse]

Venn feels bad about what happened to Pattah and prays every night for his victim and his family, according to his lawyer, who would not allow a jailhouse interview with Venn.

``It's been a haunting experience for him that he'll never get over no matter what happens in the courts,'' Hatchett said, ``and it has had a significant impact on his life.''

[Yeah, right.]

After high school, Venn had more run-ins with the law. At the time he turned himself in, he was wanted on charges that included cocaine possession and driving with a suspended license. He was convicted of assaulting an Atlanta-area security guard in 2001.

During the nearly nine years Pattah lay in a coma, his deeply religious family never lost hope that one day he would wake up, said his sister, 22-year-old Lana Murad. They regularly dabbed holy water on his lips.

[Slap a lien on the church for providing defective holy water.]

[Stone Mountain]

Prosecuted for assault 9 years ago. Porsecuted for manslaughter now. doesn't sound like double jeopardy to me.

Sounds like double jeopardy to me. He is being prosecuted twice for the same incident.

[Glenn]

``When they elected to prosecute him then, they forfeited the right to prosecute him thereafter for the same behavior,'' Hatchett said.

Did they prosecute him as an adult then? And now?

[gcruse]

I'm happy to say the Supreme Court disagrees with you.

U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that double jeopardy exists only if the two crimes have the same elements. And in this case, death is an element of the manslaughter charge but not the assault charge.

[Wolfie]

Assault and manslaghter are two seperate crimes. Multiple charges can (and do) arise from the same incident. It happens all the time.

[Stone Mountain]

Multiple charges can (and do) arise from the same incident. It happens all the time.

If that's the case, why aren't people convicted of first-degree murder and second-degree murder or second-degree murder and assault (for instance) at the same time? Not doubting you - I'm genuinely curious.

[tracer]

But not for the same crime, and that is key....

[Stone Mountain]

U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that double jeopardy exists only if the two crimes have the same elements. And in this case, death is an element of the manslaughter charge but not the assault charge,

I guess I don't understand exactly what the definition of "element" is in this context. Can you elucidate?

[Wolfie]

The key word is "element" of the crime. See post #10. You won't be charged with 1st and 2nd degree murder. It will be one or the other, because they describe the same element of crime. They can, however, tack on assault, if that was part of the incident that resulted in death.

For example, if I go out to the local tavern and get blotto, then take a pool cue and brain the local cop (who comes to take me to the drunk tank) to death with it, I will be charged with: public drunkeness, assault, battery, assaulting a peace officer, possibly battery on a peace officer (if that's a seperate statute), resisting arrest, destruction of private property, and whatever else the local DA can tack on. All different criminal elements arising from the same incident. Read your Sunday morning police blotter, you'll see it all the time.

[Stone Mountain]

But not for the same crime, and that is key....

I know it's not that simple. If someone gets accused of beating someone to death, they get second-degree murder charges but they don't get assault charges on top of that. I have a feeling the answer lies in the definition of "elements" - it makes sense to me that if assault is included (is an element) of 2nd degree murder, then you can't prosecute for that on top of 2nd degree.

This would seem to imply that a great strategy for prosecutors in this position would be to charge the least serious of all the crimes, and then once a conviction is obtained on the lesser conviction, to go after progressively more serious charges.

What if this victim had died immediately at the time? Could the prosecutor have prosecuted an assault charge, and then after the perp serves his sentence, the prosecutor then prosecutes a second-degree murder charge?

[Stone Mountain]

I understand that different charges arising from the same incident happen - I'm not that lame. I obviously didn't word my question well - how about this hypothetical I proposed in my last post:

What if this victim had died immediately at the time? Could the prosecutor have prosecuted an assault charge, and then after the perp served his sentence, the prosecutor then prosecutes a second-degree murder charge?

Is this kosher?

[Charles Henrickson]

Though Pattah was Iraqi and Venn is black, the punch was not believed to be racially or culturally motivated.

What if the races had been reversed, the assailant white and the victim black?

[xJones]

What if the races had been reversed, the assailant white and the victim black?

You know very well what would happen. Jesse Jackson would be in it for the bucks, and Al Sharpton for the publicity. As things stand, it's a little difficult to defend Venn who has not gone on to lead an exemplarily life, but if there's any profit to it, the race baiters will turn out.

[IYAS9YAS]

Yes. It would be no different than successive sentencing versus concurrent.