[WOMBAI]

Originally Posted by Shasown

I wonder if the victim was there to partake in the reported "organised gang fight" and if he went tooled up same as the others. Or was he an innocent bystander they decided to target.

Interesting point! However - even if the former was the case - I believe he and his two friends (I think there were 3 of them from what I remember) were hugely outnumbered - so was never a fair fight, so to speak!

[Shasown]

Originally Posted by WOMBAI

Interesting point! However - even if the former was the case - I believe he and his two friends (I think there were 3 of them from what I remember) were hugely outnumbered - so was never a fair fight, so to speak!

Simply because the police have arrested and charged a large number of people with murder does not mean it was that number against the victim and his friends, under Joint Enterprise anyone in the assembly who did not overtly try to prevent the crime at the time of it being committed can be charged with murder too. Regradless of who actually stabbed the victim.

Its an old legal doctrine, over 300 years old that is still on the statute books, but it has been brought back into use to help fight gang violence. Basically if you are a member of the group and another member of the group commits a crime, you can be held responsible for that crime even though you didnt intend to commit it. Unless it can be proven that you tried to stop it.

In this case if the assembly consisted of a number of gangs and they were there for a fight, which resulted in someone dying, they could all be charged and even convicted of murder, especially if the person(s) who committed the murder cannot be identified.

[WOMBAI]

Originally Posted by Shasown

Simply because the police have arrested and charged a large number of people with murder does not mean it was that number against the victim and his friends, under Joint Enterprise anyone in the assembly who did not overtly try to prevent the crime at the time of it being committed can be charged with murder too. Regradless of who actually stabbed the victim.

Its an old legal doctrine, over 300 years old that is still on the statute books, but it has been brought back into use to help fight gang violence. Basically if you are a member of the group and another member of the group commits a crime, you can be held responsible for that crime even though you didnt intend to commit it. Unless it can be proven that you tried to stop it.

In this case if the assembly consisted of a number of gangs and they were there for a fight, which resulted in someone dying, they could all be charged and even convicted of murder, especially if the person(s) who committed the murder cannot be identified.

Well I guess the idea of bringing it back includes encouraging the innocent to name the guilty - rather than be convicted of something they didn't do!

[Shasown]

Originally Posted by WOMBAI

Well I guess the idea of bringing it back includes encouraging the innocent to name the guilty - rather than be convicted of something they didn't do!

Some may not have seen it, some may have and already informed the police(unlikely) however the police may have charged all those involved as a tactic to obtain corrobative statements from others.

It also depends on the events leading up to and during the murder, if others were encouraging or cheering the murderer(s) on then they are as guilty as the killer(s) in the eyes of the law.