STUDENT REPLIES
STUDENT #1 Kristin Esposito
I chose to cover the case of Ahmaud Arbery, as it happened in near me in Georgia. Arbery was shot by Gregory and Travis McMichael, a father and son pair. The shooting was caught on video footage and has raised many questions as to how Mr. Arbery lost his life. The McMichael’s stated originally, they believed Mr. Arbery was breaking into a home in the neighborhood, then chased him down to stop him. They went on to say that when they confronted him, he engaged in a physical confrontation with Travis, resulting in Mr. Arbery being shot and killed. Once the Georgia Bureau of Investigations became involved, they reviewed the video footage available, and felt that Mr. Arbery was doing nothing wrong at the time he was killed. At that point, both Gregory and Travis McMichael were arrested and charged with multiple charges, including aggravated assault and murder. In June of 2020, a GBI investigator testified that Travis McMichael threw racial slurs at Mr. Arbery while standing over this body. The man who filmed the entire incident, William Bryan, was also arrested and charged with similar charges after giving conflicting stories about his involvement (Action News Jax, 2021).
This case gives a possible good example of actus reus (the criminal act) along with mens rea (criminal intent) (Lippman, 2018: 2024 – Write My Essay For Me | Essay Writing Service For Your Papers Online). Even though none of the charged have been found guilty, the comments made by Travis McMichael following the shooting show some possible intent to cause harm.
Understanding and proving criminal responsibility are important, because it ensures that proper charges are brought against the correct individuals. This can be difficult, because investigators are tasked with gathering any and all evidence that will show, rather circumstantially or exactly, that a person committed a crime and intended to do so. As our text resources state, responsibility is proven with a motive, or why a person committed the crime. Proving the act of the crime as well as the intent must happen in concurrence (Reid, 2016: 2024 – Do my homework – Help write my assignment online).
Reference
W. (2021, February 23). Timeline: The investigation into the killing OF AHMAUD ARBERY. Retrieved from https://www.actionnewsjax.com/news/local/glynn-county/timeline-investigation-into-killing-ahmaud-arbery/EPL6I4G7WZF77LOAK7OCSX3G4A/
Lippman, M. (2018: 2024 – Write My Essay For Me | Essay Writing Service For Your Papers Online). Contemporary criminal law: Concepts, cases, and controversies (5th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
Reid, S. T. (2016: 2024 – Do my homework – Help write my assignment online). Criminal law: The essentials (3rd ed.). New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
STUDENT #2 Catherine Lemay
Johnathan Lyons, 33 years old from Port St. Lucie, Florida, charged with murder and attempted felony murder. Thomas Kennedy, 33 years old from Davie, Florida charged as an accomplice and charged with felony murder.
Mr. Lyons was robbing one female when another stepped in to help her and was shot and killed herself in the process. That’s transferred intent it’s when an individual intends to attack one person but injures another. It can also be a concurrence crime it’s where a criminal intent must exist which it does it was an intent to a robbery and at the same time as a criminal act which it was there was a homicide. Because he had a gun he was charged with attempted murder on the intended victim and should be charged with armed robbery.
Then there was Mr. Kennedy the getaway driver that was charged with felony murder due to causation due to the fact that due to an armed robbery someone was shot and killed that wasn’t the intended victim.
You have to understand the criminal responsibility for each inmate or person charged in a crime or charging someone in a crime to make sure they are charged or not charged accurately so no one is charged if innocent and the guilty are charged and sentenced by the courts appropriately according to the law.
Reference:
https://www.sun-sentinel.com/local/broward/davie/fl-ne-davie-murder-second-arrest-20210223-pidbfjkvqrdfvjanzvt3umgbgq-story.html
