Rawrrrrrrr Posted May 19, 2008 Share Posted May 19, 2008 How can you be found guilty of setting a fire and the manslaughter of those died- which should be murder- yet be cleared of attempting to kill the others in the house surely you are guilty of both or neither? http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/tyne/7408432.stm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Commander Harris Posted May 19, 2008 Share Posted May 19, 2008 How can you be found guilty of setting a fire and the manslaughter of those died- which should be murder- yet be cleared of attempting to kill the others in the house surely you are guilty of both or neither? http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/tyne/7408432.stm whether the decision is right or wrong I don't know, but it is not inconsistent. If he had been found guilty of murder then cleared of attempted murder that would be inconsistent, but he wasn't - he was found guilty of manslaughter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deek Posted May 19, 2008 Share Posted May 19, 2008 There has to be intent to kill for murder. If for example he thought nobody was in the house when he set fire, he could be convicted of manslaughter. I see that evidence was led about his mental state at the time of the offence, which may also have led to a manslaughter conviction. I see his father still thinks he is innocent. It is a tragic case for everybody concerned. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rawrrrrrrr Posted May 19, 2008 Author Share Posted May 19, 2008 There has to be intent to kill for murder. If for example he thought nobody was in the house when he set fire, he could be convicted of manslaughter. I see that evidence was led about his mental state at the time of the offence, which may also have led to a manslaughter conviction. I see his father still thinks he is innocent. It is a tragic case for everybody concerned. Theres a difference between being mentally incapable though and having issues which are affecting your mental state, Im sure his family problems did cause him a lot of distress, but enough to make him mentally incapable enough to commit such an event? and whilst I do appreciate the tragic circumstances, 2 young people had there lives taken from them, setting fires always has the potential to be deadly and 6 years for that offence is entirely inappropiate I think its just another sign that this country is going PC mad and the slightest mention of a mental illness/disability suddenly reduces the penalty or removes a conviction for criminal offences Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deek Posted May 19, 2008 Share Posted May 19, 2008 Theres a difference between being mentally incapable though and having issues which are affecting your mental state, Im sure his family problems did cause him a lot of distress, but enough to make him mentally incapable enough to commit such an event? and whilst I do appreciate the tragic circumstances, 2 young people had there lives taken from them, setting fires always has the potential to be deadly and 6 years for that offence is entirely inappropiate I think its just another sign that this country is going PC mad and the slightest mention of a mental illness/disability suddenly reduces the penalty or removes a conviction for criminal offences With some knowledge of law, I would expect the sentence is on a par with similar for manslaughter. You may not like it, but the judge can only sentence on the crime convicted for. I would not like to convict somebody with a mental illness for murder. We used to hang people like that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boris Posted May 19, 2008 Share Posted May 19, 2008 I think its just another sign that this country is going PC mad and the slightest mention of a mental illness/disability suddenly reduces the penalty or removes a conviction for criminal offences Behave. Don't worry. Your next Daily Mail should be delivered in c. 10 hours. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Commander Harris Posted May 19, 2008 Share Posted May 19, 2008 Behave. Don't worry. Your next Daily Mail should be delivered in c. 10 hours. indeed. his statement was simply not true and all that sort of attitude does is help to stir up (and maintain) the antipathy towards people with mental health problems. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jamboj Posted May 20, 2008 Share Posted May 20, 2008 I think the reason is that, with respect to murder there is a lesser charge of attempted murder, but there is no such smaller offense of attempted manslaughter... So you can be convicted of manslaughter for killing people, but not for attempted manslaughter if they survive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hughesie27 Posted May 20, 2008 Share Posted May 20, 2008 Attempting manslaughter....If you can pull that off then hats of to you. If that is a sin then I wreckon I should be in jail for life attempting to not kill somebody each day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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