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kellinatorhttp://www.cnn.com/2002/US/Midwest/09/23/video.child.beating/index.html
"The woman caught on videotape repeatedly striking her 4-year-old daughter in the rear of a sport utility vehicle is due in court this afternoon. Despite admitting the beating and saying there was 'no excuse' for it, she's expected to plead not guilty to felony child battery charges."
Is the state of society so bad that this moron thinks she can admit to a heinous crime on NATIONAL FUCKING TELEVISION and STILL claim she is innocent in a court of law?
"The woman caught on videotape repeatedly striking her 4-year-old daughter in the rear of a sport utility vehicle is due in court this afternoon. Despite admitting the beating and saying there was 'no excuse' for it, she's expected to plead not guilty to felony child battery charges."
Is the state of society so bad that this moron thinks she can admit to a heinous crime on NATIONAL FUCKING TELEVISION and STILL claim she is innocent in a court of law?
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no subject
Date: 2002-09-23 10:29 am (UTC)shes saying that the charge against her is incorrect. that she does not agree that she should be brought to that charge, but probably a lesser one.
shes probably shooting for a misdemeanor.
no subject
Date: 2002-09-23 11:02 am (UTC)Pleading not guilty in a court of law is not equivalent of saying "I didn't do it," it's really "I am not guilty of this charge as it is defined by law"
For example, say you hit a person with your car and kill them, and it's totally an accident. You would pleadn not guilty to, say, 1st or 2nd degree murder, because technicly the crime would be vehihcular manslaughter.
On the surface it seems like the law is needlessly pedantic, but such distinctions maintain consistency in that simmilar crimes are treated in more simmilar ways, which supports fair trials.
no subject
Date: 2002-09-23 11:04 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2002-09-23 11:20 am (UTC)again, she is saying she is not guilty of the charge they have given her. she never said she wasnt guilty of hitting the kid. in admitting she did wrong, she is saying that she did hit the kid.
she, more her lawyer, is shooting for a lesser charge for lesser time. this is why lawyers get big money.
no subject
Date: 2002-09-23 02:46 pm (UTC)Yeah, you hit the nail on the head.
The headline bugged me too...but from a legal prospective, I realize
she *has* to plead not guilty to this just for...well, procedural reasons. Hence why her attorney calls it a formality. My best guess is they're currently researching the avaliable case law in order to find some precedent to establish this as a "crime of passion" (using that strictly in the common law sense) type of thing.
Criminal law is odd...its all statutory. Like...all of it. Thus, the case law can be make or break, esp. if its in your jurisdiction. My guess is they'll be plea bargaining because I highly doubt there is going to be ANY case law that would help her. (Kelli, you work in a law library! Use your westlaw password to reserach it ;-) ) Plea bargaining might give her visitation rights (at the least) and will be less of a charge on her record.
I understand why it all pisses you off though...I remember interning at the county court in undergrad and working on a case involving the rape of a 12 year old girl -- at school -- by her 14 year old boyfriend. He admitted to raping her, but it went down on his record as "attempted rape" because of the plea bargain. He got a 3 year sentence, at least 2 years shorter than what it would have been had he been convicted of rape. Plus, he doesn't have to list himself as a sex offender that way...fucked up, huh?
(then again he had an IQ of 72 so....well...there might have been another ground to pursue with that. but thats a WHOLE other issue of the law.)
Re:
Date: 2002-09-23 02:58 pm (UTC)Re:
Date: 2002-09-23 04:16 pm (UTC)Re:
Date: 2002-09-23 11:16 am (UTC)theres a reason law students spend so much time studying.