LogFAQs > #876437620

bshwalker posted...

I'm trying to understand the Darknights line of thinking.
[...]
She is an accessory to a crime.

You just answered your own question - she's an accessory to burglary. She should be charged as such. Charging her with three counts of first degree murder means we are treating this woman - a low-level, non-violent street criminal whose level of planning consisted of picking which house they were going to rob - as being morally equivalent to a serial killer.

bshwalker posted...

The mastermind is not an accomplice. They are the creator.

Calling her "the mastermind" is an exaggeration. Based on what we know thus far, the decision to commit a robbery was a group decision; this woman simply suggested which house they should hit.

bshwalker posted...

I used an example earlier of a real life event. Two guys were crossing a street, one of them decides to snatch an old ladies purse. She falls and hits her head on the ground. She was taken to the hospital and had a heart attack a few days later. Not only did the snatcher get charged with murder but the other guy was charged as well because he chose to run away with the snatcher, making himself an accomplice.

This is a majorly flawed example for one very obvious reason: in your example, it's the victim who died - in the real case, it's the culprits who died.

As I posted earlier, if the situation had been different and the homeowner or his son had been killed by the robbers, I would have no problem seeing this woman charged as an accessory to murder/manslaughter. But that's not what happened.

The woman bears full responsibility for the burglary, I don't deny that for a minute. She bears partial responsibility for her fellow robbers' actions, as she was involved in planning the robbery, which is why I have no issue with accessory charges and why I say she would have some moral blameworthiness if her co-conspirators injured or killed someone during the crime. But she is not responsible for the homeowner's son's actions, which were ultimately what killed her three accomplices.
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Kill 1 man: You are a murderer. Kill 10 men: You are a monster.
Kill 100 men: You are a hero. Kill 10,000 men, you are a conqueror!