OldMarksman
Senior Member
Join Date: June 8, 2008
Posts: 1,281
Quote:
Posted by Alaska444: don't believe it was murder 1.
...murder 1? Sorry, I just don't buy it
So, you are saying that you do not believe that Ersland specifically intended to kill Parker.
Just what is it that you think he was trying to accomplish?
Premeditated murder is the crime of wrongfully causing the death of another human being (also known as murder) after rationally considering the timing or method of doing so, in order to either increase the likelihood of success, or to evade detection or apprehension.[1] State laws in the United States vary as to definitions of "premeditation." In some states, premeditation may be construed as taking place mere seconds before the murder. Premeditated murder is usually defined as one of the most serious forms of homicide, and is punished more severely than manslaughter or other types of murder - often with the death penalty or a life sentence without the possibility of parole.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Premeditated_murder
Not sure what the definition of premeditated or first degree murder is in OK, but for sake of argument, let's go with this one.
Was he thinking rationally at the moment of the second shooting?
Understanding the physiology of the fight and flight adrenaline dump, I would give him the benefit of the doubt at that point.
When our fight or flight system is activated, we tend to perceive everything in our environment as a possible threat to our survival. By its very nature, the fight or flight system bypasses our rational mind—where our more well thought out beliefs exist—and moves us into "attack" mode. This state of alert causes us to perceive almost everything in our world as a possible threat to our survival. As such, we tend to see everyone and everything as a possible enemy. Like airport security during a terrorist threat, we are on the look out for every possible danger. We may overreact to the slightest comment. Our fear is exaggerated. Our thinking is distorted. We see everything through the filter of possible danger. We narrow our focus to those things that can harm us. Fear becomes the lens through which we see the world.
http://www.thebodysoulconnection.com/EducationCenter/fight.html
If you feel he can develop a felonious premeditation ONCE his fight or flight was activated by pistol in his face, that is your opinion, but I would never venture such an opinion against a law abiding citizen placed in the ultimate stress test, your life or theirs. Give me a break. Do you really believe he was in his NORMAl rational brain to have the faculties to rationally decide, I am going to kill this kid on purpose?
Sorry, I take him at his word that in his agitated state of fear he thought he saw the kid moving in a purposeful manner for a gun. We can at this time categorically state he was wrong, but were you there and did you see in an altered adrenaline filled state of mind what he saw? I believe he saw a man moving and wrongly interpreted that as moving for his gun. I have witnessed many severely brain injured people in a 20 year career to understand that they have involuntary movements especially right after injury that could be interpreted as a deliberate movement. In that scenario, there is no murder whatsoever, it is still self defense no matter how ugly the situation looks on ONE view of a video camera. What if we had a second camera showing the kid moving in such a manner that a reasonable person could believe he was reaching for a gun like this man testified.
I believe that there is sufficient doubt to render not guilty on murder 1, but perhaps find guilty on manslaughter.