15-Year-Old Texas Boy Charged With Murder In Deaths Of 9 Illegal Immigrants

PALMVIEW, Texas (AP) — A 15-year-old South Texas boy has been charged with nine counts of murder among other charges after a van he was driving crashed, killing nine of the suspected illegal immigrants packed inside.

Full Article Link

I don't get this. A 15 year old boy is being charged with murder because the van he was driving while running from the border patrol crashed and killed 9 illegal immigrants. Murder? I would think vehicular manslaughter before something a drastic as murder.

What are your thoughts ATS?

He was also charged with 17 counts of smuggling a person and causing serious bodily harm including death, and one count of evading.

Link to same article as first post

I would understand 9 counts of smuggling a person since there were 9 people killed. Where do they get these count numbers? Out of a hat?

My thoughts?


They should get a faster van

Originally posted by TXRabbit
My thoughts?


They should get a faster van

I was thinking a driver with a license to drive. I like yours better.

I agree that the murder charges are out of line... manslaughter would be more appropriate. As for the number of charges, the article states that 9 of the passengers were killed but does not mention how many passengers were in the vehicle which could be where the 17 is coming from.

Why murder charges?

Hidalgo County District Attorney Rene Guerra said he wants to "send a message" and try the teenage suspect as an adult.

That's pretty clear. No illusions here.

reply to post by ReadAwhile


Just because they want to send a message and try him as an adult does not warrant the murder charge. The deaths resulted from a vehicle accident.

Originally posted by LevelHeaded
I agree that the murder charges are out of line... manslaughter would be more appropriate. As for the number of charges, the article states that 9 of the passengers were killed but does not mention how many passengers were in the vehicle which could be where the 17 is coming from.

I guess there is a FAIL for the writer of the article for not giving us all of the details.

Found another article pretaining to the incident with a little more detail.

A 15-year-old South Texas boy charged with nine counts of murder after he crashed a minivan packed with illegal immigrants, killing nine of them, cried and expressed remorse before a judge Monday, police said.

Article Link

Originally posted by ReadAwhile
Why murder charges?

Hidalgo County District Attorney Rene Guerra said he wants to "send a message" and try the teenage suspect as an adult.

That's pretty clear. No illusions here.

So what is the message? Don't smuggle people? Don't crash a van with people in it? Don't drive without a license? Don't run from the border patrol? The message they are trying to send isn't very clear IMO.

My thoughts?

Another perfect example that our legal system is f*****.

The message is the distraction. The borders are wide open despite the talk of the national security and war on terror with the requirement of spending billions a year in the effort. Some corporations make great money supplying the effort.

reply to post by KnightFire

To varying extents in the United States, the requisite intention can also be found where the perpetrator acts with gross recklessness showing lack of care for human life, commonly referred to as "depraved heart murder",[4] or during the commission of or while in flight from any felony or attempted felony (termed felony murder.)

Source
It seems to me that murder IS the appropriate charge!

See ya,
Milt

Originally posted by KnightFire

PALMVIEW, Texas (AP) — A 15-year-old South Texas boy has been charged with nine counts of murder among other charges after a van he was driving crashed, killing nine of the suspected illegal immigrants packed inside.

Full Article Link

I don't get this. A 15 year old boy is being charged with murder because the van he was driving while running from the border patrol crashed and killed 9 illegal immigrants. Murder? I would think vehicular manslaughter before something a drastic as murder.

What are your thoughts ATS?

edit on 16-4-2012 by KnightFire because: (no reason given)

While not sure about Texas, in most states if the death happens while committing other crimes, it automatically jumps from Homicide to Murder.

Hmm, I could be completely wrong here thanks to various TV show cop dramas but...

During the commision of a felony, if someone dies, isn't that automatically capitol murder for anyone involved?

Originally posted by KnightFire

He was also charged with 17 counts of smuggling a person and causing serious bodily harm including death, and one count of evading.

Link to same article as first post

I would understand 9 counts of smuggling a person since there were 9 people killed. Where do they get these count numbers? Out of a hat?

Maybe it was something like this:



They counted 28 illegals coming out of that van.

Originally posted by BenReclused
reply to post by KnightFire

 

To varying extents in the United States, the requisite intention can also be found where the perpetrator acts with gross recklessness showing lack of care for human life, commonly referred to as "depraved heart murder",[4] or during the commission of or while in flight from any felony or attempted felony (termed felony murder.)

Source
It seems to me that murder IS the appropriate charge!

See ya,
Milt

I completely understand and agree with your post.

Let's just say this kid was thinking his passengers would be better off away from the border patrol. Would it still be fessible to have a homicide charge vs felony murder?

I would think felony murder would have been a plan to cause harm to others, not in this case where he fled the scene and ran from the border patrol.

From the links below on Wiki, the difference between murder and manslaughter has to do with intent. If this is the case, would the 15yo understand that his actions of running from the authorities have the chance in resulting in the deaths of the passengers. If it could be shown that he understood his actions could have ended in the results they did, then yes murder should apply. Otherwise, it should be manslaughter. Disclaimer: This is a general Wiki article, state laws will dictate the charges, and I am not a lawyer.

Manslaughter - Wiki

The law generally differentiates between levels of criminal culpability based on the mens rea, or state of mind. This is particularly true within the law of homicide, where murder requires either the intent to kill – a state of mind called malice, or malice aforethought – or the knowledge that one's actions are likely to result in death; manslaughter, on the other hand, requires a lack of any prior intention to kill or create a deadly situation.

Now..

..hypothetically..

..if someone killed a mess of someone I didn't want in the country while committing a crime..

..I might charge them with something that is impossible to convict him on if I didn't want him getting in trouble for it.

Not saying this is happening here.. but stranger things have happened.