Gunman William Spengler Used Bushmaster, Left Chilling Note

[happyslug]

125. I suspect a DA, who had a case where he had a good chance of losing.

To convict someone of Murder, a DA does NOT only have to prove someone killed someone, but that the intent was premeditated. In a Manslaughter case, all that has to be proved is some intent (to rob, hurt, punch etc any intent to do something including killing the victim).

When a DA offers a plea of Manslaughter it is generally a case where someone clearly intended to do something, and due to that act someone died (i.e. for example, driving a car with gross negligence and due to that gross negligence someone dies) but it is hard to prove any premeditation, thus not murder.

In this case, you had a 31 year old killing his 92 year old grandmother. What was the 31 year old doing? What cause him to kill his grandmother? I suspect he had deep psychological problems, problems big enough for a Jury to rule he was insane at the time of the killing.

Thus the DA worried that a Jury would rule the Killer insane and thus have the case dismissed, while the Defense worried that a Jury would sentence the Defendant to death. Thus the sides agreed to Manslaughter. With such a plea, the DA does NOT have to prove intent of any type, and the Defense makes sure the Defendant is out in 15-20 years and it can be part of the deal that the Prison he was sent to had a good psychological center.