The accident theory is being stretched beyond the breaking point by now, I find it hard to come up with even a remotely plausible theory of what kind of accident it would have to be to justify the subsequent events. Such an accident would have to look so suspiciously close to murder that he responded just as if it actually was a murder.
I am not defending PM, as I think his reasoning and action in any case were completely psychotic in itself, but I can imagine a scenario that - with everything we know up until now - has not been disproven ... although I'm of the firm belief that he did kill that poor girl.
Being eccentric is fine, Howard Hughes was an eccentric and so are many writers and film makers. But butchering bodies (the result of an accident or a murder) goes substantially beyond merely being eccentric, it points to having a complete lack of empathy.
Best case scenario was his desperation to protect his reputation given this was the first journalist to visit his submarine who proceeded to die within his care would destroy his reputation. He probably freaked out and made a series of bad choices.
Worst case this was a crime of passion.
A 10yr manslaughter sentence seems like an appropriate punishment here.
I just want to point out that the Danish jury system have very little incommon with the American jury system
Professional jury vs a jury system basically designed to ensure the least qualified people are in the jury
In contrast to Denmark, where in a lot of cases the jury is the three judges preceding over the case, or in cases where there's a real jury, they jurors have some form of law degree
I'm wrong about the jurors usually having a law degree. Maybe. Apparently each jurisdiction has a committee that creates a short list every 4 years of people suited for jury duty. I can find no further info on what "Suited for jury duty" means, so the "has a law degree" thing might be untrue
This is to ensure the facts matter more than how they are represented.
Smaller but serious trials have a limited jury (domsmænd) if the accused claim they are not guilty.
Hm, apologies. I was under the impression they are not laypeople.
Thank you for correcting me. Question: does this imply that Denmark also has a jury duty?
Edit: this later comment makes me doubt again...
There is a jury duty in the sense that if you are asked to serve as lay judge you can not refuse. However, in practice the system is set up so that only volunteers get asked.
Every 4 years, each municipal council (kommune) provides a list (grundlisten) of candidates for lay judges (nævning). The list must be representative of general demographics. To be eligible for the list, you must be "suitable" for the role (which seems to mean you should not have a criminal background), and you must not be a lawyer, prosecutor, judge, or police officer. The cities can use their own procedures to compile the list, but in practice the way it works is you write to the selection committee giving your name, age, job title, and motivation for why you want to be a lay judge.
The lists are combined, and about 10,000 people are randomly selected from them. If you are selected you have a duty to serve. You serve for a period of 4 years, and will typically sit on 4 to 5 cases per year.
https://www.frederiksberg.dk/politik/kommunalbestyrelsen-og-... http://www.domstol.dk/saadangoerdu/tildigderer/naeavningdoms...
With the corpse cut in pieces, it's hard to reach any other conclusion than that this was a murder. Or just almost in the region of the semi-plausably concievable, an accident followed by a gruesome attempt to cover it up. The repeated change of stories certainly doesn't help his credibility, and the explanation doesn't stand to reason in any way.