Phil Spectre

[MsD]

Sort of a tough argument to have. Phil waved a gun at dozens of people...this time the gun went off. Whether he intended to shoot her would be virtually impossible to know. Either way, the gun went off. It could as easily have been bad luck as intent.

Intending to wave a deadly weapon around is bad enough.

[ursus arctos]

Yes

And having it go off and kill someone once given that context is not at "bad luck"

[Jah Womble]

Sort of a tough argument to have. Phil waved a gun at dozens of people...this time the gun went off. Whether he intended to shoot her would be virtually impossible to know. Either way, the gun went off. It could as easily have been bad luck as intent.

I think when you’re shortening the odds that much, it can’t really be put down to ‘bad luck’.

That'd be like playing chicken on the freeway and calling it ‘unfortunate’ when you get hit by a truck.

[Amor de Cosmos]

Yes

And having it go off and kill someone once given that context is not at "bad luck"

Very true. He was on safer ground when he only threatened people with his Karate skills.

[WOM]

I think when you’re shortening the odds that much, it can’t really be put down to ‘bad luck’.

That'd be like playing chicken on the freeway and calling it ‘unfortunate’ when you get hit by a truck.

Right, but my point is that odds are different than intent. Did he intend to shoot her or did his recklessness finally get the better of him? They're very different.

[WOM]

Intending to wave a deadly weapon around is bad enough.

Not what I'm arguing. He waved a gun at dozens of people. Did he intend to shoot any of them, or all of them? Did he intend to shoot Lana Clarkson?

[Jah Womble]

Point taken, but the fact that he was doing nineteen-to-life when he died rather confirms that it was never likely to be looked upon as ‘bad luck’.

I’m only quoting the expression that you’ve used here.

[ursus arctos]

Right, but my point is that odds are different than intent. Did he intend to shoot her or did his recklessness finally get the better of him? They're very different.

They really aren't legally, at least in most US states, which allow for "reckless disregard for human life" or a similar state of mind as being sufficient for a charge of murder (as opposed to manslaughter)

[danielmak]

If you do not own or handle a gun then there's no way to shoot someone. For me, it's as simple as that. So waving it around and accidentally shooting someone or meaning to shoot one is all the same for me. He had the gun, he put someone in harm's way. I'm just surprised so many people put up with his shit and nobody clocked him or shot him first.

[MarkF]

^^^ It's a shame I can only like that once.

[Sits]

Not what I'm arguing. He waved a gun at dozens of people. Did he intend to shoot any of them, or all of them? Did he intend to shoot Lana Clarkson?

Wouldn’t the presence of bullets in said gun be a key factor? If just waving it around, it doesn’t need bullets in it.

[Evariste Euler Gauss]

Did he intend to shoot her or did his recklessness finally get the better of him? They're very different.

Very different in some ways, relevant for some purposes. Not at all different in whether or not his actions made him a loathsome despicable c*nt who deserved to die in prison.

And of course there's the long catalogue of other misogynistic abuse he perpetrated.

[jason voorhees]

When a woman would try to leave him instead of fucking his duck-lipped clown wig-wearing slimy worm-dicked ass, he would put a gun in their face and threaten that he would shoot them. He should have been in prison the first time that happened for Aggravated Assault with a Deadly Weapon.

California doesn't have a felony murder law (when accidentally murdering someone during a robbery becomes First Degree murder,) but he was convicted of second degree murder which is a spur of the moment killing. It was either that or manslaughter which also carries a life sentence.

Had it been his first time, he would probably be looking at 5 years in prison, which happened to Jayson Williams when he accidentally shot his limo driver - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jayson_Williams.

While Williams had murdered a few of his pitbulls with his shotgun (nice guy,) he had no witnesses who said he had done it before with humans.

Then her blood was found IN his pocket, because he wiped her face off and tried to make it look like a suicide.