Jury convicts ex-Marines of involuntary manslaughter in hacking death

[Kadie]

Jury convicts ex-Marines of involuntary manslaughter in hacking death

The Associated Press


Last Updated: July 7, 2004, 07:15:14 PM PDT


TWENTYNINE PALMS, Calif. (AP) - A prosecutor on Wednesday called a jury's decision to convict two former Marines of involuntary manslaughter instead of murder for a hacking death "inconceivable."

A jury returned the guilty verdicts Tuesday against Alan Patterson and Justin VanMeter, both 24. The were accused of hacking to death Daniel Smith, 19, with a machete in August 2002.

Deputy District Attorney Dave Simon praised the jury's hard work, but said their verdict did not make any sense to him.

A majority of the jury had voted guilty for first-degree murder, but they failed to settle on it and compromised on the lesser charge, Simon said.

more... http://www.modbee.com/state_wire/story/8814853p-9701603c.html

[BattyDem]

1. So ...

how do you involuntarily hack someone to death? :shrug:

[Media_Lies_Daily]

2. I was cleaning my machete and it went off by accident!!...

...or...I didn't know my machete was loaded?

[mom cat]

7. or...My machete made me do it... or it acted all by itself: I was just

holding it.

[acmavm]

3. Frigging unbelievable. They sentence 16 year old kids to life (and they

don't always have the intellect necessary to comprehend what they're doing) but two adult men who are trained to kill and understand the consequences of their actions butcher a 'friend' and they're conviced of involuntary manslaughter.

[burrowowl]

4. Many troops who come back

are not in the best of pyschological shape. This doesn't excuse them, but the army should be doing more to assess and treat what's bugging them.

[JSJ]

8. many are not in the best of shape psychologically...

...before they're recruited or before they enlist, either.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-violent1jul01,1,801741.story

[pschoeb]

5. If the majority thought first degree, wouldn't compromise be second degree

murder?

going all the way down to involuntary manslaughter, with a first degree majority, seems to spell some jurers just wanted it to be over. The third guy, who pleaded, got second degree murder.

[Kadie]

6. Yep. I think some of the jurors just wanted to get out of there.

unbelievable verdict.

[Melsky]

9. This is in the town I live in

29 Palms, California. I think the verdict is outrageous.