tvc184

The SC law allows life in prison and the death penalty. Does federal law allow more or even up to the same thing? Does the federal law of demand a minimum sentence that is more than South Carolina? Can it be that the state jury which is picked from the exact same people as a federal jury, would give more to the federal prosecutor than to the district attorney? This is nothing but a political ploy in order to look like somebody is doing sonething. Apparently some people fall for it. I guess that's why it's done and why is politics. We have a perfect example that we can look back on and it is local. Did the federal government prosecute the three man that killed James Byrd or did they let Texas just handle the case and give out their death penalty? They did not need to spend several months and a huge chunk of money to prove what everybody else knew.

What is probably the most sick and cruel part of this (as if the crime itself is not enough) is that he (according to current reports) walked in and asked to join the Bible study. Here is a white kid that walked into a traditionally black church and asked to participate and he was probably welcomed with open arms. That almost seems more heartbreaking than the horrific incident itself. The very people that he was about to slaughter welcomed him in and very likely might have hugged him. He repaid their kindness with the death penalty. Hopefully the state will return the favor.

​True but did you overlook the fact that SC has no hate crime law? If you missed it or ignored it, such a finding does not matter since it can add nothing to the case. And honestly, do you think this guy will get anything short of the death sentence or life without parole?

I think it is obvious that it was a crime of hate from the moment it made the news. Whether he hated religion in general, Christians in particular or hated by race it was still a crime perpetrated due to rage against someone. I can't figure out the attempt to make this a hate crime in the legal aspect however. It is meaningless. South Carolina does not have a hate crime statute. There is nothing that "hate" can do to further the penalty. SC has the death penalty and this guy qualifies for it. You cannot enhance death any more than the penalty itself. It is a political stunt that will burn resources just to say it was done. Someone wants to pound their chest and say, "Yep, after a five month and $850,000 investigation, it was just as we thought. This was done for racial purposes". I can save them them money. It was a race crime. Now give him the death sentence that requires no affirmative finding of "hate".

I has always been a good idea. This isn't the first church shooting in the national news.

In custody.

Most of these mass shootings end up with the shooter committing suicide on scene, being captured on scene or committing suicide away from the scene but a short time later. This guy appears to have shot and ran. We've serial killers and mass murders. I can't ever remember a serial mass murderer. Hopefully this guy isn't a new type of crazy.

I like when the police feel compelled to say that they think the shooter is "extremely dangerous". Ya think?

​ Yeah, sea breeze and summer thunderstorms.

Like the claims to support Obama..... A "historic" election. The first time ever that brothers have been president and that three family members have been president. VOTE BUSH!! And I am not for him.... just sayin'...........

There are all kinds of bands of rain/squall lines coming in and have been all day. Anyone may miss them or get strong storms from time to time. Some just passed over.

Named Storm = Ratings. Nothing more than a set of thunderstorms now and will likely remain that way. We get 45-50 mph winds in some summer storms that pass over. This one will rise the tide on the coast near and to the east of landfall.

The National Hurricane Center on their map shows a 100% chance of it being a named storm. Not much room for error on that kind of call.........

That is what I said. You forgot the smiley.

You forgot to put the, "I was just kidding" smiley face after your post.

I suppose it is okay to lie, commit perjury, falsify documents, etc., as long as you have "done a lot of good". I agree........... that "a lot" was correctly used in the statement above and not "alot" or "allot".

As a follow up.... Do any of you nutjobs believe that Guam might capsize or that South Vietnam and North Vietnam are still two different countries living side by side in harmony?

Probably no more believe her opinion on religion (which is at least plausible from a theology standpoint) than believe Democrat Hank Johnson's belief that the island of Guam might capsize due to too many people (which is not possible in any realm and is ludicrous) or Democrat Sheila Jackson Lee saying that the two Vietnams live side by side in harmony and it is a good thing we won the war (which is straight out of lala land). One is a congresswoman from CA which has no bearing on any of us that is not living in CA and was expressing a religious belief that God can punish people. The other two vote on laws that have a bearing on every person living in the USA and beyond and expressed sheer stupidity. I think they are all goofy but make the call on which is worse, the religious zealot that believes everything has a cause or two complete idiots.

Looking at the current forecasts (which are likely meaningless this far out), the most likely landfall for the potential storm is Houston with PA to the east around Matagorda to the west as the next most likely landfall locations. If Houston, we are (like Ike) again on the bad side of the storm. The best hope is little development.

​Reading the NY code, it looks roughly the same as TX. It is worded differently (has more gibberish) but I think the intent is the same as far as an accomplice. Like TX law, the NY law simply says that a person "is criminally responsible for such conduct" when he has the required culpable mental state as is required.

​TX does not have "accomplices". Some states for example might charge a guy in an armed robbery and charge the getaway driver with Accomplice to Aggravated Robbery. That in some areas means a drop of one degree in offense level so it may go from a maximum of 50 years in prison to 20 years. TX makes no such distinction. In TX we can also use the Organized Crime chapter and in the case, you don't charge them with the original crime (for example Murder) but Organized Crime/Murder. The difference is that as an accomplice you had to take part in the office such as a getaway driver or lookout. Under organized crime it can be at what is called an arm's length or wholesale level of involvement. Such as, you got a gun for a guy and he and two other guys pulled that robbery. In that case you could be charged in Organized Crime/Aggravated Robbery. Unlike accomplice laws which sometime reduce the penalty, under TX organized crime laws, it raises the penalty. Breaking into a home in TX is a 2nd Degree Felony or up to 20 years in jail. If it is part of organized crime, it becomes a 1st Degree Felony and up to 99 years in jail. Escape from a prison in TX is a 2nd Degree Felony but taking part in it for organized crime raises it to the 99 year maximum or equal to Murder. In our state, she took part in an arm's length relationship and that makes her available for the enhanced penalty. ALSO.... for organized crime, you are responsible for the highest crime committed. So if you get a gun for Aggravated Robbery and they shoot and kill the store clerk, it would be Organized Crime/Capital Murder which carries life without parole as a minimum.

Although Texas doesn't have accomplices per se, they simply charge the crime to anyone involved. She wouldn't be held as an accomplice to escape, just Escape as if she had broken out of jail. Additionally she could be charged with Organized Crime/Escape (similar to the bikers in Waco) since at least 3 people took part and any additional crime they committed. Organized Crime/ Escape alone is up to 99 years or equal in penalty to Murder. Welcome to Texas.

This is a Dave Chappelle skit, right?

​Therein lies part of the problem. The law is written that the person that an officer detains or arrests has no opinion at that moment in time that matters. You cannot resist or evade a detention or arrest because you feel that you have "done no wrong". In fact laws says that even an "unlawful arrest" is not a defense to prosecution of resisting the officer. The law is and has to be that officer's authority on the street is not open for debate at the roadside. If an officer pulls you over for a traffic violation, you do not get a legal pass not to stop because you don't think you did anything wrong. You can fight the case in traffic court and you can sue the officer if you believe your rights have been violated. Fail to stop in a vehicle and it is a felony and can result with a person being in prison. There are plenty of places to legally protest an officer's actions. During the incident is not one of them.

​I am sure it will and so will body cams but in about 98+% of the cases it will clear the officer. In either case the decisions made have to be made from the point of view of the officer in the incident, not from a Monday morning quarterback that has a lot of time and no danger to make a calm decision that is not afforded the officer at the scene. Take officers out of it. There have been plenty of civilians that have killed innocent people because they reasonably believed that the person was breaking into their home. Reasonableness has to be sees from the point of view of the person seeing something.