General Politics Discussion VIII [ARCHIVED] • Page 2123

Daunte Wright shooting: How can you mistake a gun for a Taser?



The US-based Axon company, which developed the Taser used by the Brooklyn Center police department involved in this incident, was quoted as saying their weapons were designed to be distinguishable from handguns.


It had "implemented numerous features and training recommendations to reduce the possibility of these incidents occurring" - including making them look and feel different from a firearm.

Distinctive Taser features include that they

• are often produced in bright colours
• weigh significantly less than police guns
• typically have different grips
• have no trigger safety mechanism, as most guns do

 

The Minnesota officer who killed Daunte Wright will be charged with manslaughter.

 

Kinda seems like Tasers should have safeties as well.

 

Some do. Seems like it should be standard.

 

Kinda seems like cops should only have tasers.

 

cops shouldn't.

 

Even if this was the case (which it's not), whose fault was it that he was exposed to carbon monoxide?

 

*holds plastic bag over persons face* Yeah looks like they're being exposed to too much CO2, weird!

 

I know that the police chief in my old city (Democrat) refuses to have tasers in his police force because he thinks they're too dangerous and not worth the risk

 

Potter actually could have been charged with second degree felony murder rather than just manslaughter, in my opinion.

Felony murder is when you cause someone’s death while committing a felony. The prosecution does not have to prove that you intended to cause the death in any way, nor that you acted recklessly/negligently. The idea is: you were doing something so obviously dangerous that it is per se foreseeable that your actions could cause a death, so it doesn’t matter whether you intended to cause it or not.

MN does not have the merger doctrine for felony murder, meaning the underlying felony can simply be felony assault. This is not common, because how do you cause someone’s death without assaulting them? I have yet to think of a good answer.

And assault is a “general intent” crime, meaning the prosecution simply has to prove that intended to do the *act* that constituted the assault; they don’t have to prove the type of harm you intended to cause through that act. The different degrees of assault primarily differ based on how much harm *was* caused (regardless of how much harm the defendant intended to cause, so you can get lucky by not doing much harm, or be fucked by causing way more harm than you intended), or *who* you harmed (eg, a specific provision for assaulting cops).

A mistake of fact is never really an excuse to this, as far as I know: if you thought you were holding an airsoft gun, and you end up pulling the trigger and killing someone, that is still an intent to do the act. The “act” you did was simply aiming a weapon at someone and pulling the trigger.

So while Potter has been charged with manslaughter (which is the causing death through negligence), I don’t see any reason why she can’t also be convicted of second-degree felony murder through a felony assault.

This is something that I only really know about because I had a case that dealt with this topic specifically. I don’t think tons of prosecutors/defense lawyers necessarily know about it (because, like I said, not having the merger doctrine is uncommon because it doesn’t make any sense - all states *should* have the merger doctrine). So I wouldn’t be surprised if the charging prosecutor simply isn’t aware of this.

But also my rule is to never give prosecutors the benefit of the doubt in cases like this (remember how the Hennepin County prosecutor fucked up when initially charging Chauvin before the AG’s office stepped in?), so I am not inclined to be fine with them charging her simply for manslaughter when they would almost
100% be charging someone with 2d felony murder (assault) if it wasn’t a cop. There is nothing stopping them from charging her with both if they wanted!

 

What the fuck.

City known as Hangtown votes to remove noose from its logo - CNN