Articles Posted in Murder

One officer is facing charges after several officers allegedly assaulted a 17-year-old boy during an arrest. Essentially, one officer was caught punching the boy repeatedly while the boy was on the ground, and the other officers were caught standing nearby and watching. While the officer who threw the punch is facing charges of aggravated assault and official misconduct, the officers who stood by and watched are not. Nor are they facing disciplinary action. 

It is not clear that the bystander police officers could be held responsible for a crime in this instance. Which then got me thinking, what happened to the other two officers in the George Floyd case? The answer: They went to prison. So, let’s analyze that case (which was filed under Wisconsin law), and maybe we can figure out if these officers could be charged with the same thing.

George Floyd Analysis

There are a growing number of criminal cases filed against healthcare providers who fail to act in accordance with the standard of care. While in some cases, these criminal cases seem better suited to civil court, there is nothing that prevents municipal authorities from filing criminal charges against medical personnel. In most cases, these suits are not filed against doctors but against EMTs and nurses. In some cases, the EMTs and nurses go above and beyond simple negligence, and hence, the charges against them are sometimes justified.

In this case, the EMTs are charged with first-degree murder, which is the harshest crime that anyone can be charged with under Illinois law. According to authorities, the EMTs knowingly strapped a man into the gurney so tightly that he was not able to breathe. He died of respiratory distress. 

The defense contends that the incident was mere negligence and not intentional murder. 

The defense is characterizing the charges as baseless and without merit after New Mexico prosecutors charged Baldwin with manslaughter. Baldwin was the one who fired the loaded gun, but there is no one who believes he intentionally wanted to harm Halyna Hutchins. The question is one of negligence.

Under the law, simple negligence is not a crime. However, culpable negligence is a crime. As an example of a crime of culpable negligence, think reckless driving or DUI. In these cases, you may not be trying to hurt anyone, but you are placing others in a position where they can be hurt or even killed. In cases of DUI involving a death, you have culpable negligence that gives rise to homicide. So, did Baldwin contribute a DUI-like amount of culpable negligence to trigger a manslaughter investigation?

The Prosecution’s Argument

Over-the-phone lie detection is the latest junk science employed by the FBI and police departments across the country. While experts familiar with the work say it should not be used to convict individuals, it is being used to analyze 911 calls to determine whether the calls are honest or false. 

Today, the Karen phenomenon and swatting have police on high alert for false calls. But it isn’t swatting and Karens that are being stopped. Often, it’s people who “say the wrong thing,” according to this method of analyzing speech patterns. And that could be anyone, even the victim of domestic violence or sexual assault. 

What You Need to Understand

A recent television series documented a case in the United States revolving around a man accused of murdering his wife. In the criminal case, the prosecution used testimony from an expert witness to claim that the man staged the 911 call and was actually himself the murderer. He was convicted based on the testimony of a sergeant who interpreted the 911 call as being staged. A jury convicted the man on that basis.

The basis for the witness’s testimony is a little-known method of lie detection promulgated by police departments and the FBI. According to these departments, you can tell if a person is lying by interpreting linguistic cues and stress in their voice. Of course, there is little scientific basis for this, and there has been no testing to determine the veracity of these claims. That’s not the problem, however.

In most cases, we would laud anyone who wanted to endeavor to determine if there was any method to determine if someone was lying by studying their vocal cues. That’s not what’s happening here, however. Instead, the police departments are assuming that they can do this without subjecting their procedures to peer review. Even those most familiar with the theory have publicly stated it should not be used to convict individuals. Nonetheless, there have been 100 cases (at least) throughout the U.S. in which 911 call analysis or vocal stress interpretation.

A Chicago woman is being charged with murder after stabbing her boyfriend to death. According to police, the incident was related to a dispute over who could use the microwave first. The woman was eight months pregnant at the time of the stabbing, and she and her boyfriend were living together, according to police. 

According to the press release, a dispute broke out over who was going to reheat their leftovers first, which turned into a shoving match. The boyfriend went to lie down in his room, but the girlfriend continued to argue. Eventually, she approached his bedroom with a knife. An uncle attempted to prevent her from getting closer, but she reached around him and stabbed the boyfriend in the thigh. He died after bleeding out from his femoral artery. She then dropped the knife and fled the scene, according to reports. 

The woman is facing one charge of first-degree murder and is being held without bond. As of the stabbing, police were called to five reports of domestic violence, with the defendant listed as the aggressor. All of these incidents occurred over a four-month period between June and September. In one incident that occurred in late August, the defendant was listed as the aggressor in an incident that left her boyfriend with a stab wound to the neck. The boyfriend refused to press charges over the incident. 

Four people, including three teens, have been charged in a carjacking spree that ended with the death of a 55-year-old woman. Police say the perpetrators carjacked two women, set a pickup truck on fire, and then caused a deadly crash after a police chase. The 17-year-old driver has been charged with murder and three counts of aggravated fleeing. Another 17-year-old has been charged with possession of a stolen vehicle and unlawful use of a weapon. Others are facing charges of trespass to a vehicle and weapons violations. 

The teens carjacked two vehicles in a short time before setting fire to a pickup truck they had stolen earlier. At that point, police became aware of the teens, and a chase ensued. The chase reached speeds of 60 mph and only stopped when the stolen vehicle crashed into a Toyota driven by the 55-year-old victim. 

Understanding the Murder Charge

Details are beginning to emerge about the suspect in the recent Weathertech shooting. According to reports, 37-year-old Charles McKnight is accused of shooting and killing another 37-year-old man and wounding two others. McKnight was found in possession of some of the victim’s belongings. Two Weathertech employees confronted McKnight near the end of his shift after they accused him of stealing the personal belongings of another employee at gunpoint. An argument ensued and McKnight shot at the men confronting him. 

McKnight worked for a temp agency and managed to pass a background check although the press was able to discover that McKnight had been arrested several times for minor offenses. McKnight was never prosecuted on any of those charges which ended up being dropped. All the offenses were minor offenses such as simple battery and disorderly conduct. According to the temp agency, they use another company to conduct criminal background checks and McKnight’s came back clear. 

One of the victims was treated and released from the hospital while the other is in critical condition. McKnight will likely face one charge of first-degree murder and potentially two charges of attempted murder. His bond has been set at $5 million.

A man with an extensive felony record has been arrested and charged with first-degree murder after stabbing another man aboard a CTA Blue Line train. At the time of the stabbing, the man was on bond for another case. 

Police say that the attack was not random, but that the two men appeared to know each other. Earlier in the evening, the men were seen together on surveillance footage purchasing liquor from a store. The defendant withdrew money from an ATM. Later that evening the defendant fell asleep aboard the train and his companion, the victim, attempted to reach into his pocket. The defendant then pulled a knife and began slashing and stabbing the victim. The victim died of his injuries. The defendant is now facing first-degree murder charges. 

Police say that the defendant got off at the next stop and left his companion to bleed to death. He was found by another passenger and the matter was referred to the police. The defendant, meanwhile, ended up at a hospital the next day for a condition unrelated to the stabbing. There, he became aggressive with hospital staff who matched his image to a police bulletin concerning the stabbing. 

In terms of senseless tragedies, this one makes as little sense as any. One man is facing charges after he allegedly poured lighter fluid on a sleeping homeless man and ignited it. The homeless man, who was featured in a documentary, was known to Chicagoans as “the walking man.” He is not expected to survive the attack. 

A 27-year-old man has been charged. If the victim dies, the defendant will face charges of first-degree murder. Surveillance cameras show the man scoping the area for traffic before dumping the lighter fluid from a cup onto the sleeping man. The homeless man began thrashing wildly when a security guard noticed him and put out the blaze. 911 was immediately called. 

Police used the surveillance footage to track down the suspect, who told them that he had found a cup full of gasoline and wanted to set some trash on fire. When asked why, he told police he was an angry person. The defendant maintains that he was not aware that a person was sleeping there. Medical personnel have described the burns as “non-survivable.”

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