27 January 2005

Suspect in Train Crash Is Charged With Multiple Murder Counts

The guy who started to commit suicide by train and then decided against it - bailing out but leaving the stuck vehicle for the train to hit - is facing 11 capital murder charges.

3 comments:

Ken Lammers said...

carpundit,

I don't know California law but I'd think they are proceeding under a "felony murder" theory. In a felony murder a person commits first-degree murder if any death results from the commission of violent felonies whether the death was intentional or not. Basically, if you commit a crime wherein there is a significant chance that someone could be killed it is a capital murder if someone is killed.
.

Ken Lammers said...

Yeah, I found it under 190.2 a (17)(I) too.

Ken Lammers said...

But I think the prosecutor will have problems with Penal Code sec. 219 which requires the act causing the wreck to have been done with the intent to derail.