Woman who was shot while pregnant is charged in fetus's death

Re:Woman who was shot while pregnant is charged in fetus's d... by TimTheTinker on Friday June 28, 2019 @01:38PM (#20306840)

> Getting a manslaughter charge when acting in self defense is what shouldn't make sense.

The instant someone pulls a gun trigger, they assume legal responsibility for the path of the bullet, and everything it does along that path.

If I fire a shot in justified self-defense but miss and kill someone else, I can (and should) be charged with manslaughter. That makes good legal sense, as far as I can tell.

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Re:Woman who was shot while pregnant is charged in fetus's d... by senectus1 on Saturday June 29, 2019 @07:49AM (#20312050)

in some states that is just not true.

In some states if you rob a bank and cop shoots at you but misses and hits and kills a bystander, then YOU the robber who did NOT shoot anyone will be charged with manslaughter.

that is sort of what is happening here.

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Re:Woman who was shot while pregnant is charged in fetus's d... by TimTheTinker on Saturday June 29, 2019 @01:23PM (#20313675)

Wow, that strikes me as really unjust and backward.

So if a policeman is willfully negligent and doesn’t keep up his target practice, his own lack of skill could result in someone else being charged with manslaughter. I disagree: If anyone is charged, it should be him—though I do recognize the court would rightly not hold him responsible if a reasonably competent person couldn’t have been expected to do better.

If it worked that way, perhaps people would think twice more often before discharging a firearm - and fewer people would be harmed.

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