|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Mon Nov 13, 2006 7:55 am
Givern the following situation, what would you believe?
A wife... or a child who grows up to be a young adult, has been beaten for quite some time by the Husband (or father) and at one point snaps. They determine that was the last time they will suffer another beating by him and start carrying a knife or gun with them. He at a later date goes to beat them again and they kill him in cold blood. They don't bother calling 911 - they just call the police afterwards and report the incident.
During the whole time the man was alive and beating them they had told no one... wether or not the wife or child was told to keep quiet about the beatings by the man is not disclosed to you. The only evidence you are presented with is the fact that the defendant was beaten and that they admit to killing him.
They plead it was self defense and not intentional murder... they did afterall only kill the man once he tried to beat them again, he wasn't stabbed to death in his sleep so proving intent isn't possible. They also claim that if you had suffered like the defendant you would have mentally broke down and killed the man as well.
The prosecutor however brings up evidence of the man being a good citizen in his work environment and for debates sake also that he was not an alcoholic and rarely drank even on special occasions. The pattern of his behavior is not fitting of the accusations yet the beatings have been proven.
Please vote in the poll and then post what you voted and give us some reasons you believe so...
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Nov 13, 2006 8:05 am
As far as I'm concerned with the topic, it's cold-blooded murder.
With the facts provided, there's just a pattern to the defendants actions that indicate guilty.
1.) They don't tell anyone about the beatings when they occur, be it a close friend or a doctor or the cops... no one finds out about the beatings until after the death occurs. If telling someone provides a way out of the situation without killing the man, and that action is not taken... then they chose to kill the man over a more peaceful resolution.
2.) When they do kill the man, they kil him. They don't injure him and try to get away... they want him dead and don't call 911 after the incident because they never want to see him alive again. Intent to kill or not if all you had wanted was to get out from under his control killing him wasn't the only way yet they chose that way.
3.) If killing him in self defense is still the only way they believe they were able to get out of the situation, then they really did have a mental breakdown and if that's the case... then for all we know the bruises from the beatings were self inflicted as an alibi. The man's lifestyle doesn't show him to be abusive and if they really wanted him dead for some reason maybe they were so sick in the head they hurt themselves to justify it in their own minds. And that kind of defendant needs to be locked up in a mental institution...
Overall my point is that there are solutions other than killing the man the defendant refused to take... and because they ignored or chose not to take those routes they intentionally took the path of Murder.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Nov 14, 2006 2:44 pm
I had a friend in a situation much like this one. His mother went crazy from the beatings and the man got drunk at times where it was not known by the public. He ended up stabing his father at one point in an attempt to protect his mother. The police still didn't believe him. Then, at one point, he got a full fledged beating and went to police, only then did they belive him, but the damage had already been done.
I also had a Aunt that had been beaten. She just got out of jail, actually, and got back with the man. She claims she loves him which is why she'll never testify against him. I would not be even remotily surpirsed if her older son, one of my cusins, ends up killing the man one of these days. Poor Robert has been so messed up by this exp.
There are objects you can beat a person with that hurt extreamly bad but leave no marks.
I say Not guilty but honestly, a phycoligy test would have to be done to be completely sure if the defendant had indeed been abused.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Nov 14, 2006 8:22 pm
eeeh... well this is one of those things...
I know you are talking about physical abuse but this is what I could relate to
(this just recently happened in my community)
A man that was a known convicted sex offender on 2 mentally retarded teenage boys was found murdered in his home by blunt force to the head then the house was burned..
there were many boys that testified that he had molested him but they had no proof since they were scared at the time.. but then later there was proof on 2 cases... which In my eyes means that the boys that their case was closed on were probably molested, anyways... these boys are hurt on a deep level and now one of them is being questioned.. I think that revenge is no good, but I can see why you would have to kill someone to move on if they have hurt you severely. If someone was hurting me I would seek help before I killed someone... If someone was abusing my child though and I found out after the fact, she/he better have a damn good hiding spot cause I would kill them... but it is wrong and they still should to the time... but of course not me eek
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Nov 15, 2006 8:09 am
Good points...
I hate the way some people in society are... confused
And though self-defense is definitely not the same thing as murder... people who choose not to leave a situation or choose to come back to a bad one are just asking for trouble.
I hope your cousin doesn't get involved in the situation on the level you think he may Broken Sun...
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Nov 18, 2006 6:25 pm
That's actually a hard call...
I guess it would be murder, considering they WANT him dead.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Nov 21, 2006 7:04 pm
well unfortunately i think that it would be considered murder.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Nov 22, 2006 8:44 am
The_Transmogrified Good points... I hate the way some people in society are... confused And though self-defense is definitely not the same thing as murder... people who choose not to leave a situation or choose to come back to a bad one are just asking for trouble. I hope your cousin doesn't get involved in the situation on the level you think he may Broken Sun...
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Nov 22, 2006 8:46 am
Ramarama That's actually a hard call... I guess it would be murder, considering they WANT him dead.
Besides, they were protecting themselves to start with.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Nov 23, 2006 10:10 am
i would have to say that it was self-defense because if you kill someone while they are starting to beat you, you are protecting yourself and it's not like you killed them in cold murder, so i belive it's self-defense
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Mar 10, 2007 7:50 pm
^^ I started writing a story about that... only the "murderer" was a 4 year old boy.
And it's self-defense. Planned or not, it's self-defense. As an abuse victim (age 3 to 13) it's kinda easy to answer that. Abusers don't always stop after a slap or twenty.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Apr 07, 2007 10:04 pm
Hmm, I've come across a similar case before, except that the man was a no-good alcoholic and a lot of other things that gave him a bad reputation. ...Well, if seen strictly from the law books' perspective, I'm pretty sure it's going to be murder. No matter how I look at it, the woman's got everything up against her.
Why wouldn't intent be there? It was there alright... If not fully planned, it was definately deliberate. They started carrying a weapon around with them, just waiting for that time to occur. They wanted to kill him. They genuinely wanted him dead. That alone is enough for murder.
As for self-defence... killing the other person should be the very last resort. It should only be a valid defence if it's a life-and-death situation. But from what was given above, the mother and child never asked for help prior to this. Like you said, there could have been a lot of other ways around this.
The woman might be able to get around the murder charges if she really does have mental issues.
Now for my own perspective, I could not speak from experience, but I understand that it's a difficult situation to be in. No matter what, I think that they should serve some time for killing someone, but perhaps a lighter sentence will do. I also have a friend who had an abusive father when she was younger, but her situation was further complicated by other factors... Basically, the mother fled across the country with the children, living on next to nothing. I think that she is now scarred for life, but I don't know if killing her father was ever on her mind. Maybe. But it would never be done. There could have been so many ways to avoid killing the man.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Reply
