Where Is “Stupid” a Defense? 0
A. In Florida. Where else?
It enabled the fellow who shot a pregnant lady while playing pretend Wyatt Earp to get off without prosecution.
According to Florida Assistant State Attorney Pete Magrino, in order to rise to the level of a crime in Florida, an unintentional shooting must meet the standard of “culpable negligence.” In his decline-to-charge memo, Magrino describes culpable negligence as “showing reckless disregard for human life.”
Had DeHayes pulled the trigger of his gun intentionally, for example, thinking the firearm was unloaded, and it went off, or had he been drunk or under the influence of drugs when the shooting occurred, that would have been a crime. But, as Magrino’s colleague Chief Assistant State Attorney Ric Ridgway told 48 Hours’ Crimesider, “If you’re just being careless with a gun and it goes off,* that’s not a crime.”
The moral of the story is, in Florida, stay sober and make it look like an accident.
Follow the link for much, much more.
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*Because you just never know when a gun might decide to fire itself.
Pfui!
