Driving a car into a crowd is not ‘second degree’ murder…
August 13, 2017 § Leave a comment
It looks like the Charlottesville driver is charged with second degree murder….
http://law.justia.com/…/virgin…/2006/toc1802000/18.2-32.html
Penalty no less than 5 years no more than 40.
Stephen Laudig This appears to be the definition…. Murder, other than capital murder, by poison, lying in wait, imprisonment, starving, or by any willful, deliberate, and premeditated killing, or in the commission of, or attempt to commit, arson, rape, forcible sodomy, inanimate or animate object sexual penetration, robbery, burglary or abduction, except as provided in § 18.2-31, is murder of the first degree, punishable as a Class 2 felony…… I opine that the perpetrator is ‘undercharged’ as driving a car into a group of people is “willful, deliberate, and premeditated”. He didn’t accidentally drive the car into the group of people. His intent can be inferred from the act. Let’s just say that the car had mechanical problems at that very moment and ‘on its own’ raced forward into the crowd. Let the accused defend on that basis. But the video I saw had the car rapidly reversing in what I’d say was an escape attempt. Hence the driver had control… The prosecutors are undercharging.
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