I'm far from what you are describing. I've said multiple times he shouldn't have been killed.

Is it really America if a couple of ignorant white guys cant mow down a black man? I mean, think about it. That’s a lot of history to turn our backs on.

They're pressing murder charges against the guy who filmed it

https://www.ajc.com/news/crime--law/breaking-man-who-filmed-ahmaud-arbery-video-charged-with-murder/Jt10ZSeHZEV7gzu6QiK46K/

he is charged with "felony murder and criminal attempt to commit false imprisonment". apparently they have enough evidence to prove that he's more than just a random "guy who filmed it" - and that's clear from even just reading the article you linked there, you racist hack.

now, am i sure this won't turn out like the zimmerman case, and the murderers get away because they were over-charged, which gives them an out to set the killers free in that shitty legal system? no, i have no confidence that justice will be served in any race related murder in america - let alone in the south.
but is there definitely more to it than just an innocent bystander who happened to have his camera out, like you suggest? quite clearly.

He should be charged if he was involved with the people. If he wasnt involved that will be made clear pretty quickly.

He wasn't "involved" with the people, but he's charged anyway
The prosecutors aren't ignorant of the facts of the case, they're taking what was already a tortured murder charge on the two McMichaels and making the most herculean stretch of all time that the guy committed felony murder by filming it

their legal argument- and I feel this should come with a disclaimer like that south park episode where it says 'this is what scientologists really believe'- is that because he picked up his phone and started filming from his truck when he saw arbery chased by the mcmichaels so that he could figure out what was going on and help, the fact that he pursued both the mcmichaels and arberys in the chase then makes him an unwitting accomplice to the citizen's arrest, and because they're charging the citizen's arrest as felony aggravated assault by arguing it had no legal cause, that makes him liable for felony murder.

which makes absolutely no fucking sense whatsoever under any reasonable reading of the felony murder rule

to commit felony murder, you have to knowingly commit a felony that a reasonable person could anticipate could create a fatal risk, and you then assume criminal liability for the risk- you can be responsible for deaths even if you didn't try to kill anyone, as long as your actions were both felonious and created the risk. In order for the armed citizen's arrest to be treated as a felony aggravated assault, the prosecutors have to say the mcmichaels had no legal justification from immediate knowledge of arbery committing a felony that would allow them to pursue him. So in order to charge the guy who just filmed it, they'd have to say that by joining in the pursuit without knowing what was even going on, by the mere act of driving his truck after Arbery, he became a participant in the citizen's arrest, which becomes a felony under their theory only because of a lack of legal justification he couldn't possibly know at the time, which somehow he was supposed to know posed a life and death risk, and just him driving after Arbery was an act responsible for Arbery's death.

this is the kind of shit that would make Beria blush.

This post was edited by Goomshill on May 22 2020 02:40pm

I think you're too emotionally involved. The murder case against the McMichaels isn't tortured at all, they had no immediate knowledge of Arbery committing a felony after all. The "he entered a property before they even saw him and took nothing" case is DOA.

The charge against the guy filming also isn't so shallow as to be DOA. He may be an unwitting accomplice since his presence could have cut off escape routes, etc. They will need to prove this in court but the charge on its face doesn't seem to be as ridiculous as you are making it. If it really is that wrong it will get thrown out before ever seeing a trial. It sucks that this guy is going to have to pay for legal representation, but that's just an aspect of our system that we have all basically agreed is a necessary evil.

if you park your car in a lot and 10 minutes later a shootout happens and a guy can't escape because your car is in the way, it doesn't make you a murderer
felony murder rests upon the transferred intent from felonious actus reas and a mens reas of knowing the risk of death. Merely being present, or being an unwitting participant in something that's only criminal without your knowledge, can't achieve either of the two prongs of felony murder. Driving and filming something isn't a felony, and a reasonable person wouldn't anticipate that filming could get someone killed. They can't even show it as a consequence in this case, let alone predictable in general.

its like they completely inverted their legal theory and worked backwards from the desired outcome to the charges. For the McMichaels its only murder if the self-defense wasn't justifiable, its only not justifiable if they were committing a felony, its only a felony if they had no reasonable cause, its only unreasonable cause by technicality on strict reading of the statute. Then they try to split hairs over what knowledge was necessary to fit the statute, with such subjective interpretation of minutiae being the difference between perfectly legal and 20 to life. For the guy filming, its only criminal if his mere driving to film constitutes participation in the arrest, which is only a felony and thereby felony murder if we accept the whole previous chain.

the kind of tortured logic required to make this work would let you prosecute just about anyone for anything, chaining it all the way up to murder. If you don't have to show intent, negligence or a consequential act, what do you have to show at all?

Stopped reading here because it's a fundamental misrepresentation of the situation. The cameraman was not passive in this situation, so your analogy has to reflect that.

what actions did the cameraman take that made him culpable for a violent felony that would knowingly pose a deadly risk?