Quote:
Originally Posted by bitontheslide
people haven't said that the killing was justified, they are merely saying that there is a difference between murder and manslaughter and that particular case is not murder. People throw ... "it was murder" around all the time on this forum, and it most often simply isn't. The prosecution always select the most serious crime that they can get a conviction for ... although with plea bargaining it's more complicated in the USA
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People (incorrectly) assume that murder is by necessity "worse" than various types of manslaughter and therefore "if it was really bad and they should be locked up for a long time, we must call it murder, cos that's the bad one".
Its a bit overly simplistic though and there are many examples of manslaughter that are arguably far worse than murder and rightly hcarry heavier sentences too.
Here's a simple example; some arsehole goes and gets tanked up on cocaine and alcohol, steals a car, and kills a woman and baby crossing the road. Vehicular manslaughter. He gets out on bail and the husband/father of the two, after seeing him laughing on Social Media, decides to go out and beat the guy to death. That's murder.
Whose side are we on? Who (if they were separate incidents, obviously) is quite likely to get more jail time?