So a bunch of us were discussing this today and was wondering what you guys think and what the law says… Lets say you and your buddies rob a guy at gun point and then one of your buddies decides to do something stupid and shoots the guy 5 times and kills him. (a bullet through the head, one in the heart, etc) Key word: dead. Then what if the remaining guys just decide to shoot the dead guy for shits and giggles. Can you get charged for murder? I think it isn’t murder since the guy is already dead and you had no intentions of killing him. Its just that your stupid buddy shot him dead and now you are just shooting the corpse for fun. You might get charged for reckless endangerment, unlawful use of a weapon, etc but can you really be charged for murder???
how did level 2 go
ZeroBonus Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > So a bunch of us were discussing this today and > was wondering what you guys think and what the law > says… > > Lets say you and your buddies rob a guy at gun > point and then one of your buddies decides to do > something stupid and shoots the guy 5 times and > kills him. (a bullet through the head, one in the > heart, etc) Key word: dead. > > Then what if the remaining guys just decide to > shoot the dead guy for shits and giggles. > > Can you get charged for murder? > > I think it isn’t murder since the guy is already > dead and you had no intentions of killing him. Its > just that your stupid buddy shot him dead and now > you are just shooting the corpse for fun. > > You might get charged for reckless endangerment, > unlawful use of a weapon, etc but can you really > be charged for murder??? If the person is already dead and you are shooting at a corpse ,you cannot be charged for murder. This however has to be confirmed by the autopsy report etc. to ensure that the person was indeed dead at the time you decided to desecrate the corpse. You will be charged for accessory to murder though. There is a law and order episode similar to this where the wife claimed that the husband had killed the victim, however it was later proven that the person was already dead by the time the husband shot at the body.
In NJ, all participants in a crime can be charged with murder if the murder occurred in the commission of that crime. Not sure how it is in other states.
higgmond Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > In NJ, all participants in a crime can be charged > with murder if the murder occurred in the > commission of that crime. Not sure how it is in > other states. Yeah, I think this is fairly standard. Everyone would be charged with first degree murder as the accessories to the crime did nothing to prevent it. As for shooting the body after he’s dead, probably no additional charges but say he was dead for a few days and you went back to shoot at it they may throw on a desecration of a corpse or some similar charge for you and your weirdo buddies.
If you didn’t shoot the corpse, you could make the argument that you only intended to rob the guy and had no intention to kill him. This could let you off the murder charge and leave you with only accessory to murder, which is still pretty bad, but generally a lighter sentence (and not a death penalty crime where the death penalty operates). However, your case is much weaker if you actually shot the guy (dead or alive), since, at minimum, you are desecrating a corpse and showing little remorse for the fact that one of your gang has committed murder. This would likely put you up for murder, since it would be difficult to determine which of you had actually delivered the fatal blow.
I feel like ‘murders&executions’ might be able to help field this question…
I recoomend watching episodes of Law and Order for answers to these and similar questions.
LPoulin133 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I feel like ‘murders&executions’ might be able to > help field this question… and the prize goes to…