Quote:
Originally Posted by nittanyalum
So we can convict now on what one can assume someone was thinking? Terrifying.
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Most crimes have, since ancient English common law times included an element of intent.
In criminal statutes, you'll see words like "intentionally, knowingly, recklessly or negligently" as being a big part of the element of a crime. In latin, it's the
mens rea, or the 'guilty mind.'
Murder in the first degree, for example, everyone knows that murder is "The
intentional killing of another human being with
malice aforethought." Half of the crime is the mental state.
The other half is the
actus reus, the 'guilty act.'
But as I said above, in this particular case, this defendant's priors had a role to play. He had pled out and served 13 years for five counts of attempted murder... so this sentence, in my opinion is a public service. This man, if left in the general population
will kill. He has shown before that he is capable of doing it and here, these facts, if true point out that he would have no qualms with passing a mostly fatal disease to his arresting officer.
This kind of trash deserves to be locked up.