legal questions

[incandescens]

Crim Law Hypothetical

Hypothetical A: Two men (Crab and Goyle) shoot one man (Potter) with their "Magic Wand" 12mm pistols. Crab shoots Potter in the head and Goyle shoots Potter in the heart. Both men fire at exactly the same time. Both men's actions would kill Potter on their own. Who is guilty of the murder?

Hypothetical B: Crab and Goyle both shoot at Potter simultaneously. Crab and Goyle both intend on killing Potter, but Goyle misses. Both men's actions would kill Potter if performed correctly. Potter dies. How do we assign guilt?

Hypothetical C: Crab and Goyle both shoot at Potter simultaneously. Crab has a silencer on his weapon. Crab intends to kill Potter. Goyle has a loud pistol, but intends to miss: Goyle is trying to scare Potter. Both miss Potter. Potter, reeling from the loud recoil, backs into a railing on the interstate bridge. The railing is poorly constructed and breaks away as Potter lightly bumps into it. Potter falls down a hill and onto the interstate. Driver Snape is driving an 18 wheeler while mildly intoxicated. As Potter hits the highway, Snape hits his breaks as quickly as possible considering his mild intoxication. The anti-lock breaks, which are poorly constructed, lock out and the truck slides into an embankment, crashing as Snape turns the wheel to miss Potter. Snape is paralyzed and hideously burned in the crash. As a result of the crash, six Siberian Tigers which are unregistered and being illegally transported, break out from the 18-wheeler's cargo hold and maul Potter to death. How do we assign criminal guilt and how do we assign damages in civil courts?

http://www.irritantnumber4.com/2005/01/crim_law_hypoth.html

Comments

From the replies

[rvdammit.livejournal.com]

Crab, Potter, Goyle, Snape?

These all sound like disgustingly hideous venereal diseases.

Snape is guilty of sounding like the most disgustingest.

[xsmoonshine.livejournal.com]

Highly amusing hypotheical cases. Thank you for the link!

[flit.livejournal.com]

Heeheeheeheehee.

Snape! Drunk! Trucker!

Heeheeheeheehee.

[liralen.livejournal.com]

*just falls over giggling helplessly*

[archangelbeth]

*too!*

[deepfryerfire.livejournal.com]

The funny thing is, my brother-out-law is a courtroom clerk for the county district court, and if I asked him he'd probably rattle off not only what everyone is likely to be charged with, but whose family would sue who and what stupid thing each judge up the hill would have to say about it. I'll run it all past him when he wakes up, although the first thing he'd want to know is *why* they were trying to kill Potter. Was this a professional hit? A potions deal gone horribly wrong? A domestic dispute/crime of passion?