So, lemme get this straight....

[conuly]

This woman killed her son.

She drugged him, then put a plastic bag over his head so he couldn't breathe, and waited for him to suffocate.

Premeditated, cold-blooded murder.

But instead of being treated as a murderer, she's out on bail, being charged with manslaughter, and the pastor of her village says that they feel profound sadness and sympathy - for her, not for her dead son.

I wonder, if I just started killing people who were inconvenient to me, could I get profound sadness and sympathy too? I've got a list of people I don't like all that much....


_{Taken from wakasplat}

Comments

[conuly]

Covering his face with a grocery bag isn't premeditated?

[l33tminion]

That would be necessarily intentional, but not necessarily premeditated. However, that's the difference between first and second degree murder (aggravated homicide vs. homicide), not the difference between murder and manslaughter.

[conuly]

Ah, thanks.

[eofs.livejournal.com]

l33tminion said pretty much what I would. Premeditated murder is murder that has been planned, and suffocating someone with a plastic bag doesn't need to be planned. And yes, it is the difference between degrees of murder.

The reason the charge is manslaughter not murder will be because of the diminished responsibility I believe.