Author Topic: Crummy situation - Murder from 30 miles away? (Read 1753 times)

Chairboy · « **on:** July 21, 2007, 05:42:11 PM »

First, this guy is a scum bag. He did some bad stuff, got into a gunfight with cops, and should be in a hole.

....but should he really be convicted of murder because an officer who was speeding through a construction zone got into an accident and died 30 miles away?

http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/stlouiscitycounty/story/D159F9B9C70CFBDC8625731E0012B1E8?OpenDocument

This guy should be convicted for the bad decisions that he had control of, not this.

storch · « **Reply #1 on:** July 21, 2007, 05:52:23 PM »

absolutely. the guy chose to commit a crime. the officer's death was the direct result of attempting to capture this maggot. we are far too soft on crime here. in any event a grand jury was conveined, found probable cause the subject had his day in court and a jury of his peers found him guilty.

Chairboy · « **Reply #2 on:** July 21, 2007, 05:57:55 PM »

If a 13 year old has been caught shoplifting, and the police car coming to take him to jail is T-boned in an intersection, should the 13 year old waiting in the manager's room at the store be convicted of murder?

storch · « **Reply #3 on:** July 21, 2007, 06:06:22 PM »

absolutely but in that instant I doubt there would be a conviction unless I and my eleven clones were on the jury

Mark Luper · « **Reply #4 on:** July 21, 2007, 06:07:04 PM »

That's a tough call. I read the article and what it said about Missouri law but I have a little trouble with it. Why was the officer "racing" to help in the search?

Like Storch said though, why not prosecute the criminal to the fullest extent of the law?

Mark

Ack-Ack · « **Reply #5 on:** July 21, 2007, 06:09:59 PM »

Quote

Originally posted by Chairboy
If a 13 year old has been caught shoplifting, and the police car coming to take him to jail is T-boned in an intersection, should the 13 year old waiting in the manager's room at the store be convicted of murder?

Bad example since the kid has already been detained.

The reason why the felon was convicted in the troopers death is that the trooper was responding to the call in assist in the apprehension of the felon, who at this time was hiding in the woods, trying to avoid being arrested. Hence, the criminal act was still ongoing at the time of the troopers death.

ack-ack

storch · « **Reply #6 on:** July 21, 2007, 06:11:18 PM »

ya what ack ack said

MiloMorai · « **Reply #7 on:** July 21, 2007, 06:28:57 PM »

Taaffe said Tatoian had a slight blood-alcohol level, was late for his callout to duty and drove fast in a construction zone. A prosecution witness said that the low level of alcohol wouldn’t impair the trooper.

What was the trooper doing responding to the call while slightly drunk?

john9001 · « **Reply #8 on:** July 21, 2007, 07:03:31 PM »

Quote

Originally posted by MiloMorai
Taaffe said Tatoian had a slight blood-alcohol level, was late for his callout to duty and drove fast in a construction zone. A prosecution witness said that the low level of alcohol wouldn’t impair the trooper.

What was the trooper doing responding to the call while slightly drunk?

i want that lawyer when i get a dui.

Bronk · « **Reply #9 on:** July 21, 2007, 07:17:27 PM »

Quote

Originally posted by MiloMorai
Taaffe said Tatoian had a slight blood-alcohol level, was late for his callout to duty and drove fast in a construction zone. A prosecution witness said that the low level of alcohol wouldn’t impair the trooper.

What was the trooper doing responding to the call while slightly drunk?

Hmm what's a "slight blood-alcohol level". Heck .08 is slight and can get ya a DUI in quite a few states.

Bronk

eskimo2 · « **Reply #10 on:** July 21, 2007, 07:29:36 PM »

He should get the chair for shooting at a police officer; it doesn’t matter that he grazed him or if he would have missed the cop or killed him. He shot at a cop and should be put down for it.

It’s a tragedy that a cop died in the line of duty but I think it’s a stretch to hold the criminal responsible for murder in regards to the police officer’s crash.

Suppose a US Marshal was driving to a prison to transport a criminal from one facility to another and died in a crash. Should the criminal be charged with murder?

I see the point, however: criminals create emergencies and emergencies have an element of danger to them. What’s reasonable though? If some drunk campers start a fire, the fire department responds, an engine crashes and firefighters die, did the drunk campers commit murder? If a skier skies out of bounds past warning signs and buries himself in a small avalanche, searchers will respond. If the searchers die in another avalanche should the out of bounds skier be charged with murder?

Dago · « **Reply #11 on:** July 21, 2007, 07:34:06 PM »

The frustrating reality is too many cops drive like fools when they are on a call, even when not in pursuit. They have killed an incredible number of innocent civilians with their poor judgement. It is a tragedy of course that the officer died in this situation, but it was his own fault not the criminals.

I feel more cops should be held responsible for their reckless driving, and this should include prosecution when they kill someone.

Ack-Ack · « **Reply #12 on:** July 21, 2007, 08:35:26 PM »

Quote

Originally posted by eskimo2

Suppose a US Marshal was driving to a prison to transport a criminal from one facility to another and died in a crash. Should the criminal be charged with murder?

Again the person can only be charged with the murder of an officer while in the commission of a crime. Transporting a prisoner from one prison to another is not a crime, so the prisoner could not be charged with the officer's death. However, if the crash that led to the officers death was direclty caused by the prisoner in the commision of a crime (i.e. attacking the officer while he was driving or attempting to escape) then the prisoner would be charged for the murder of the officer.

ack-ack

Elfie · « **Reply #13 on:** July 21, 2007, 09:24:21 PM »

Quote

He should get the chair for shooting at a police officer; it doesn’t matter that he grazed him or if he would have missed the cop or killed him.

It was another officer that fired the bullet that grazed one officer.

Quote

Gasconade County sheriff’s deputies arrived. Stallmann fired once. Deputies fired 60 shots in return. One reserve deputy was grazed in the cheek by a bullet fired from another deputy.

Should this criminal have been charged with another murder if that bullet had killed the officer it struck?

When firing a weapon one must always be sure of one's target and make sure you have a clear shot. Hitting another officer shows a lack of judgement or a lack of skill with what ever firearm he was using.

Elfie · « **Reply #14 on:** July 21, 2007, 09:26:34 PM »

Quote

Originally posted by MiloMorai
Taaffe said Tatoian had a slight blood-alcohol level, was late for his callout to duty and drove fast in a construction zone. A prosecution witness said that the low level of alcohol wouldn’t impair the trooper.

What was the trooper doing responding to the call while slightly drunk?

Looks like maybe he was drinking the night before. Still, if he had been drinking why didn't he just say so and just stay at home?

Quote

Tatoian was paged at his home near Florissant. About 4:45 a.m., near I-44’s Pacific exit, he crested a hill with his squad car’s lights and siren running. He swerved around the disabled car but struck a truck.

Author Topic: Crummy situation - Murder from 30 miles away? (Read 1753 times)

storch

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storch