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25th April 2012, 03:44 AM | #41 |
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If they swore it was a trap for Bigfoot, how would you prove they were lying? Lots of people believe in Bigfoot, and people have been hunting it for a couple(?) of centuries.
The answer to your second question is some sort of terrorism charge. But that's apples and oranges, anyway. Setting a bomb in Times Square bears no relation at all to setting a trap in the woods. You can't reasonably expect to convict the trapper of terrorism, and you can't reasonably expect the bomber to get off by pleading negligence. |
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25th April 2012, 03:58 AM | #42 |
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According to my Black's Law Dictionary, common law (as you're probably thinking about it), is "The law that doesn't apply to constitution or statute." I don't think relying on common law would be a good habit to get into.
Judicial common law requires a recorded historical precedent, and is sometimes called "judicial activism." |
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25th April 2012, 04:02 AM | #43 |
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25th April 2012, 05:24 AM | #44 |
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That is the judicial common law. Again according to Black's, this applies only to the federal courts, and defers to state law where applicable. Also, and Black's is a little vague about this, common law appears to apply primarily to questions of property. A "common-law state" is defined as one that has not yet adopted community property laws. There is such a thing as a common-law crime, but it is defined as a crime punishable under common law rather than statute law, which isn't that helpful.
One other thing: a judicial decision has to be designated as a precedent before it is binding in other cases. |
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25th April 2012, 07:06 AM | #45 |
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25th April 2012, 11:02 AM | #46 |
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My schooling is a little rusty but if there was a predicate offense, meaning they intended to commit a crime and they set the traps they are guilty of a felony conspiracy charge or perhaps an "attempted" charge. It looks to me like they are either not working this hard enough or these mopes are so stupid, scared and repentant that they're going with a "teach them a lesson" charge.
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25th April 2012, 12:05 PM | #47 |
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25th April 2012, 01:20 PM | #48 |
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25th April 2012, 01:26 PM | #49 |
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25th April 2012, 01:37 PM | #50 |
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25th April 2012, 02:15 PM | #51 |
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I don't know about Utah, but some states have laws against harrassing Big Foot. Washington has. As a very minimum, every charge related to unlawful hunting should also be filed against the trapper.
Quote:
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26th April 2012, 04:03 AM | #52 |
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How do you prove Intent? You need a confession or some sort of statement (like on a Facebook page) by the accused.
Hence the charge of negligence. Maybe they had a Bigfoot license? Geez! The point is that they can claim they were after anything but humans, and you can't prove otherwise. Everybody, hold up a moment. Let's not forget something: Double Jeopardy. If these two are accused of a crime and are acquitted, then they cannot be charged again for that same incident. That is, if someone tries to kill you, and is acquitted, then they cannot subsequently be charged with, say, assault for that same attack. You cannot keep on putting someone on trial until you find a charge that sticks; you've got one chance and one chance only. You must find the most serious charge you can, that will be supported by the evidence. In this case, there apparently is/was no evidence to support intent or conspiracy, so you are left with only the trap(s) and the ID of their builder(s), plus the absence of any sort of safety measure. That's it; that's all you've got to work with. Common sense might tell you there's more to it, and there probably is, but how do you produce common sense in a courtroom for a jury to examine? You can theorize all you want but the defense can theorize, too, and they just may come up with a more-convincing theory, one that is at least good enough to introduce reasonable doubt. Once you depart from the facts, the best storyteller will win. |
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26th April 2012, 06:07 AM | #53 |
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26th April 2012, 07:18 AM | #54 |
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26th April 2012, 08:01 AM | #55 |
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Well, a confession is good way. A statement against interest like on an FB page or statement of witnesses who heard a confession. Statements against interest are an exception to a hearsay rule. Evidence to show they intended to hold a victim or dispose of a body would be good too. Honestly, these two mopes posting on FB, you split them up and explain the prisoner's dilemma (two suspects one possible deal) I'm going to say a confession would not be hard.
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26th April 2012, 09:20 AM | #56 |
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