Happy Slapping, how is this manslaughter?

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article...930912,00.html

Originally Posted by The Times December 15, 2005 The gang that killed a man for kicks guilty only of manslaughter By David Rose and Nicola Woolcock A GANG of youths who kicked a bar manager to death during one of their regular rampages of violence were convicted of manslaughter yesterday. But the 14-year-old girl and three youths who kicked David Morley’s head like a football and filmed the attack on their mobile phones were cleared of murder. Mr Morley, a survivor of the Admiral Duncan pub bombing, was one of eight people savagely assaulted by the group in an hour-long rampage of indiscriminate “happy slapping” attacks last October. The teenage girl had approached Mr Morley, 37, who was sitting with a friend Alastair Whiteside on London’s South Bank, pointed her mobile phone camera at him and said: “We’re doing a documentary on happy slapping. Pose for the camera.” After her friends had beaten him to the ground, she then kicked Mr Morley in the head two or three times, according to Mr Whiteside. A post-mortem examination likened his injuries to those suffered by a car crash victim or someone who had fallen from a great height. The Old Bailey jurors heard that gang members regularly went on what they described as “all-nighters”, alcohol-fuelled rampages in which they hunted for vulnerable people to assault. Police said that they were motivated only by thrill-seeking and violence for its own sake. Police had treated the incidents as homophobic as Mr Morley was well known within the gay community. Homosexual rights groups criticised the manslaughter verdicts and said that his attackers should have been convicted of murder. The judge, who has called for background reports on the defendants, may rule it was a homophobic attack when he sentences them next month. Peter Tatchell, of OutRage!, said: “David’s killing resulted from a premeditated attack. They must have known that their violence was likely to cause serious and potentially fatal injuries. The manslaughter verdict for the killing of David Morley contrasts with the murder verdict for the killer of Liverpool teenager Anthony Walker.” The killers, Darren Case, 18, Reece Sargeant, 21, and a 17-year-old boy and the 14-year-old girl, neither of whom can be named because of their age, showed no emotion as the verdicts were read at the Old Bailey. The four, all from Kennington, South London, were also convicted of conspiracy to cause grievous bodily harm and remanded in custody until sentencing. The attacks, on October 30 last year, were described in court as “random, indiscriminate violence for what can only have been pleasure”. Some victims are still recovering from their injuries. The attacks were reminiscent of the murder of Timothy Baxter, a law student, in 1999. He was beaten unconscious and thrown into the Thames from a bridge. Mr Baxter and his friend Gabriel Cornish had been mugged by a gang on their way home from a party. Mr Baxter drowned; Mr Cornish survived but has been traumatised ever since. After he had been assaulted at about 3am, Mr Morley was taken to St Thomas’ Hospital but died in intensive care. He had suffered injuries, including five fractured ribs, and died as a result of a haemorrhage from his ruptured spleen. Sargeant, who worked by day as a volunteer in a charity shop, was the ringleader of what he called the Sargeant Crew. They roamed the streets of South London with their mobile phones, recording beatings, robbery and graffiti. Afterwards they joked and boasted about the attacks. One member kept 26 stolen mobile phones in his bedroom as trophies of the attacks. While awaiting trial, Case was said to have boasted: “I’m a murderer. David Morley, that dickhead, that’s the one I killed.” Mr Morley, from Chiswick, West London, was assistant manager of the Admiral Duncan in Soho, where three people died in the April 1999 bombing by neo-Nazi David Copeland. He had suffered burns, permanent hearing loss and mental trauma but gave away a lot of his compensation money to others whom he thought deserved it. Mr Morley’s elderly parents, Jeff and Doreen Morley, paid tribute outside court to their adopted son. They said: “He was a wonderful son. He had a talent for making people happy.”

Numerous pemeditated attacks, for fun and they call it manslaughter, surely they should be never let out as an example to stamp out this moronic craze. Yet another example of the Legal system failing it would seem :bah:

[blinkmeat]

Politcal forum material?

and Agreed - thats messed up and should be punished

[SFDMALEX]

Idiots! Next time Ill kick someones ass Ill make sure to film it too!

Originally Posted by AL Yet another example of the Legal system failing it would seem :bah:

totally failing .. fuckwads like that should be put down.

[ZfrkS62]

pre-meditated here would be murder 1, plus conspiracy and once you add the hate crime multiplier, those kids are going to be rotting in jail.

the parents of the minors should also be held accountable on this one. Where the fuck were they to let the kids stay out all night drinking and doing this shit???

[Overmind]

Originally Posted by blinkmeat Politcal forum material?

Do you mean that there's a space for discussion whether these retards should have been conviceted of murder?

[ZfrkS62]

what is the diff between murder and manslaughter? I always figured it was the same thing

Originally Posted by ZfrkS62 what is the diff between murder and manslaughter? I always figured it was the same thing

manslaughter is usually not premeditated and if it is there has to be a reason to bring it down to this less serious offence. As far as I know if it was premeditated they should have grounds for diminished responsibilty, such as a parent killing a child who is terminaly ill and in pain or they have to be provoked i think. Pretty sure thats how it works in the UK atleast, someone else probably knows/ can explain it better

[ZfrkS62]

either way this case is going to set a dangerous precedent. Especially when they have eveidence that one of those involved in the killing knew the victim's name.

[Vansquish]

This is one of the failings of legal systems the world over, and it is part of why I've taken up the arduous process of applying to law schools.

[jon_s]

Think I will stick to corporate law.

As for the definitions, in an accurate legal sense....

Manslaughter:

The unlawful killing of another without malice, express or implied: which may be either voluntarily or involuntarily, but in the commission of some unlawful or negligent act.

Murder:

Unlawful homicide committed with malice aforethought, express or implied. Express malice exists where the person killing does so with the intention of causing death or grevious bodily harm, yet intentionally does the act which to his knowledge is likely to cause such death.

as an aside, Grevious Bodily Harm:

The Offences Against the Persons Act 1847 contains two offences of wounding or causing GBH under Section 18 and 20. Section 18 is by far the most serious as it carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment, whereas the maximum for Section 20 is 5 years. The difference is that the prosecution must prove that you intended to cause serious bodily harm under Section 18, whereas they need only show that you acted recklessly under Section 20.

Under both sections, an assault causing grievous bodily harm or wounding is defined as follows.
To constitute a wound the whole skin must be broken. It must be more than a scratch, but one drop of blood would be sufficient.

Grievous bodily harm must be “really serious harm”, an obvious example of which would be a broken bone. There is no legal definition however, and it is a question of fact for the jury to decide.



p.s just for the record, I think that technically the correct decision was made. Whether or not the given situation should have been murder or not is down to the legislators. If they had convicted on a murder any lawyer worth his salt would have appealed and won. Then they would be back on our streets.

[jakaracman]

What a great judicial sytem. They should all be hanged ... Istead they give the a pat on the back. "Oh, you just had a bit of an accident while kicking the guy in the head. Go on, bu next time kick a little less hard ..."

[Overmind]

Originally Posted by jakaracman "Oh, you just had a bit of an accident while kicking the guy in the head. Go on, bu next time kick a little less hard ..."

fuck

[abbor]

Originally Posted by Ronin005 ahhhh, dont get me started on this one. i think everyone knows where i stand!! :x :x :bad-words: :bad-words: :snipersmile: :snipersmile: :2gunfire: :2gunfire:

Fuck the police?

[Mattk]

Um, they didn't know they were going to kill the bloke when they started bashing him. Yes, they were idiots; they certainly deserve to rot in jail, but they did not know they were going to kill the bloke. Hence, the attack, although premeditated, was not a premeditated killing.