Death of Officer 40 Years After Shooting May Bring New Charges for Gunman

Foxnews.com ^ | August 22, 2007 | AP

[Doctor Raoul]

I can't say I remember exactly what he looked like. I would have been in my mid teens. I want to say he seemed to be a fairly big man, but that may have been just the relative perception of an adolescant.

I'll have to check the obit for a mention of ham radio.

[OKIEDOC]

Tell that to Mike Nifong....

[ontap]

They’re not sentencing him to 40 years, that’s how long it’s been. The lawyers they talked to said the prosecutor was on solid ground. Like I said I would make the judgment on whether or not he was an asset or liability to society.

[driftdiver]

“They’re not sentencing him to 40 years, that’s how long it’s been”

I know, I meant 40 years is too long between the crime and now trying to charge him with murder.

“Like I said I would make the judgment on whether or not he was an asset or liability to society.”

I wouldn’t. Either he’s a murderer or he’s not. If you do it to him then what is to keep them from doing it to you? Say you are in a car accident and its your fault. 5 years or maybe 20years later the person dies ‘from their injuries’. All of a sudden you are charged with manslaughter.

But then cops are a protected class in our society. Anyone else and it wouldn’t even make the news let alone capture any prosecutor attention.

[DuncanWaring]

Whatever happened to the old English Common Law principle that if the victim lived “A Year and a Day” after the initial attack the attacker couldn’t be prosecuted for murder?

[RDTF]

“But then cops are a protected class in our society”

I think that is probably the issue here

[ontap]

I>Either he’s a murderer or he’s not.

That would be decide at his trial!

[Lancey Howard]

That rookie cop was a parapalegic for forty years.
Charge the p.o.s. shooter with murder and put him back in prison where he should have been all along.

[Westlander]

Survivability percentages after a diagnosis of Ca is based on 5 years. Now big brother wants to go back 40 (albeit the cause of ‘injury’ is different.) Just a thought.

[Sooth2222]

Yes, it was a homicide! It doesn't matter how long a time has elapsed between the injury and death of the victim. As to how many successful prosecutions there have been under similar circumstances, I can't say. I doubt there have been many. But it was definitely a homicide if the gunshot caused his paralysis and that lead to his death.

BTW, a healthy 64 year old would be expected to live 20+ more years. Just 15 years in prison in exchange for 20+ years of life doesn't seem equitable.

[pepperdog]

Yep! Actually I think the original sentence was much too lenient, but since it was forty years ago that means it was applied during the sixties, the crazy no one is responsible for anything and all cops are pigs sixties. Meanwhile the cop had to live as an invalid for forty years. Just look at his picture, he was just a kid when his life was ruined. So give the perp a break, in fact give him four breaks and I’ll let you guess where they should be. JMHO.

[PAR35]

Have they ever heard of double jeopardy in Penn?

[Postman]

Whatever works to permanently keep this POS off the street.

[Sooth2222]

CLICK HERE

New York Court of Appeals Ruling -- delayed death exemption from "double jeopardy".

[MistrX]

I love cops, but this is bullshat.

[Triggerhippie]

I know, I meant 40 years is too long between the crime and now trying to charge him with murder.

No statute of limitations on murder.

But then cops are a protected class in our society.

Now maybe you see why. *You* haven't been shot at work, have you?

[rlmorel]

"...Barclay, who was left a paraplegic, died Sunday at age 64...."

"...Complications from a shooting 30 or 40 years ago don't take 30 or 40 years to surface," said Jeffrey Lindy, a former federal prosecutor now working as a defense lawyer. "A medical expert could say it could be from this or it could be from that...."

"...Barclay's sister, Rosalyn Harrison, said her brother suffered "horribly" after the shooting "You have no idea what a hard time he had," she said....."

While I understand the legal implications of allowing a prosecution, I have no sympathy for this guy who is now officially a killer, and only contempt for this "former federal prosecutor". For Mr. Lindy to say that when someone dies after 40 years of being a parapalegic due to a gunshot wound, that the complications from that gunshot cannot be held responsible for his death it is not just factually untrue, it is morally stunted as well. The statement by his sister defines the core of this situation...what he went thorough for forty years is, in a way, a slow torture.

Even if Mr. Barclay had been hit by a car while in his wheelchair, the fact that he was in that chair DOES make the injury responsible.

In my mind, if OJ Simpson could avoid a murder conviction by a legal deformity, I wouldn't feel bad at all if a legal mistake ended up getting this guy fried.

Not like the guy shot him in a fit of passion...he shot him holding up a jewlery store when this young officer tried to do his duty and ended up in a bed or wheelchair for the rest of his life. Kind of invalidates the "Things I did stupidly as a Young Person" excuse.

In any case...I do understand the implications legally of going down this path, and there is an obvious downside, but my dander is up right now. I am just finishing the book "Murder in Brentwood" by Mark Fuhrman. It makes me angry, and this case pops up. Emotional response on my part...but there it is.

[1035rep]

I agree. He should have received a life sentence to begin with.

[SALChamps03]

I’m inclined to agree. There is no way to prove that the man’s life wouldn’t have ended in the same amount of time anyway. If the guy paid the price for the shooting, then it’s done.

[rlmorel]

Hey...I'm not a cop...I've had my dislike and distrust of cops and so on. But I have found cops to be generally pretty professional for the most part, and pretty decent people for all they have to experience. I can imagine it is hard not to be calloused when you see the worst in people almost all the time.

So, yeah. I think cops should be a protected class (if you define protected class as a different set of rules for killing cops and killing the general populace). We expect them to do a lot when called upon...just my opinion...