Police Kill 28-Year-Old After 'Swatting' Call

[Richard W]

Originally Posted by ChasFink

I don't know if anyone has brought this up yet, but can the swatter face murder, manslaughter, or similar charges since the death was a (predictably possible, if unlikely) result of his crime?

Apparently he's up on a felony charge of "making a false alarm":

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/swattin...-alarm-charge/

That feels a bit lenient but it's hard to see how it can be higher - if you say that the death was a predictable outcome of calling the police, then you're effectively saying that the police will predictably shoot innocent people in this sort of situation even when nothing at all is happening; I assume that the prosecution would have to be wary of that sort of implication.

Same for murder... to call it murder, you'd be saying that the police were effectively a hit squad that you could call up for a free assassination of your victim of choice! And while it could be easy to get that impression, I'm sure it's not true, and that nobody would expect it to be true.

Legally, I would have thought that the guy who made the call would have a solid defence against those harder charges in that he would simply have been assuming a degree of basic competence from the police, that they weren't going to do what they actually did.

[ChasFink]

If he's charged with a felony, in some jurisdictions there is a possibility (although a small one) that he could be charged under the felony murder rule ("any death which occurs during the commission of a felony is first degree murder, and all participants in that felony or attempted felony can be charged with and found guilty of murder") but it seems that's not the case in Kansas.

...the Supreme Court of Kansas held that a felony murder conviction could not be supported if the co-felon was killed by lawful attempts at apprehension by a police officer.

Not a co-felon, and possibly not lawful, but similar concept.

It might just be second degree murder in California, but I don't think they have jurisdiction.

[erwins]

It's unlikely in my view to fit either the felony murder rule (which applies only to certain "dangerous felonies" in Kansas, or the misdemeanor manslaughter rule, which applies to non-dangerous felonies and to misdemeanors connected with public safety in Kansas.

Both of those rules apply to deaths during the commission of or immediate flight from the crime. I don't know that a death that occurred a while after he finished making his false report would be one that occurred during that crime. (As a result of, sure, but probably not "during.") And as mentioned, it may be that there is a but-for connection, but there is probably a causation problem with charging him with anything more serious.

I'm glad that there is a felony charge at all.

[Mouse]

Ugh...so it sounds like it was assholes within assholes, like some kind of Russian nesting doll, only in defiance of basic laws of physics, reality, and human decency, somehow each doll is bigger than the one before it.

Seriously, next time just say you live at 742 Evergreen Terrace in Algoe, New York or 1600 Pennsylvania...I think I’ll just stop.

[crocoduck_hunter]

Or 1060 West Addison.

[GenYus234]

Don't do that. Jake and Elwood might get hurt.

[RichardM]

Nah, they ain't there.